Five Nights at Twinky's
by twinkleheart12
Summary: Animatronic ponies. Very interesting, especially to a bit of a geeky (in her opinion) unicorn. Take Twinkleheart, for instance. What more would she want than to get her very own job, watching them, as they roam? Also, in an entertainment establishment inspired by her and her friends? What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
1. Introduction

Five Nights at Twinky's

Introduction

There, I looked up in hope at my new workplace. Not the dream job of being a writer I always wanted, but all the same. Needs must. The whole place could probably do with some more life thrown into it - after all, it is a foal's entertainment establishment. Alas, the thing had been pretty much abandoned after one of its residents… er… may I say… _glitched up_. And after that, yeah… left. It's still used, but its best days were far behind it.

I should've known better. But _nooo_. My typical curiosity for anything positively _geeky_ always seemed to land me in some kind of mess. I couldn't really think of anything more fun than watching some robo-ponies wander around, doing their thing, entirely off their own accord. I could watch the future of all ponykind unfold in front of my very own eyes. However, I naturally (as I always never do) didn't take any notice _whatsoever_ that these machines were unstable; unpredictable. And I was spending the night with them. With no one else around. At least not _completely_ by myself, I should add. I had my good ol' brave bud with me. And, together, I guess mine and his unicorn powers combined could probably hold them off if it came down to it. But I knew they wouldn't. Not to me or him. 'Cos, technically, I'm the living mascot of this place. The actual one is a robotfied version of me. Which I guess is _slightly_ creepy. But, anywho, my new job was just ahead. If only Blare could get his flank over here. Oh, right. I haven't told you guys yet. Whoops. He's the good ol' brave bud I mentioned. Pretty much the pal I've had… forever. Thankfully, he's not one the animatronic-pony-things. I'd never hear the end of that.

Hey! That's him. Finally, he got here. What the hell was he waiting for? Well, he _did_ remember to give me his cheesy "Whoops, I forgot. Don't kill me." look of his. Yeah, hi. If you were any later, slowcoach, I'd probably have gone to yours myself and dragged you here. Do I wanna go in? Er, well, why would I had gone for the job if I _hadn't_ wanted to? Genius, really. Right, okay, you're nervous. It's _both_ of our first nights, remember?

C'mon, Blitz! Night shift, here we come!

 **Hi! I know this is only short, but there's gonna be more. In chapters! And they're gonna be _quite_ long, because it is one per night (and an epilogue). More of the story will be explained as each night progresses. This is in Twinkleheart's mind - who is my pony - and Blare Blitz has also gone for the job, who is a great friend of hers (and is another pony of mine). All characters in this are mine (except one OC who is mentioned at a later date). I hope you enjoy this! This is quite creepy though, and therefore isn't suited for younger audiences. So if your prone to nightmares, and don't like killer robot ponies, I'd recommend that you don't continue in this. **

**If you're keen on this kind of thing, then this is perfect for you!**


	2. Night 1

Chapter 1: Night 1

If you like weird things in life and also seem interested at being in the mind of Twinkleheart (AKA me), then feel free to stay here. If you jump while you're in my head, though, and you'll be out faster than you can say "Friendship is Magic". If you don't like my thoughts, then deal with it. I have sharper thoughts than what most people could even _comprehend_. I just don't have MMI - Motor Mouth Issues. Everyone sees me as some pony who loves pink - I am pink, too - who is obsessed in drawing (especially dragons - they're really cool to draw) and is too naïve for her own good. That I possibly couldn't understand anything. Well, have you know, that I probably know more than you do. So, if you're here, mentioning no names, _cough cough_ The Sugar Dumplings _cough,_ then chew on that toffee.

But, back to what I'm doing. Blare Blitz has just made me go into such hysterics that I've already forgiven him for being _late._ Then again, he'd probably still be forgiven anyway. I'm too soft with him. He and I are currently settling down at a really worn, drab desk. It has a random fan on it (I have no idea why that would be helpful - it's minus fifty in this wretched place). I wasn't particularly bothered about that - the fun was soon to start. The clock at the top was extremely dusty, however I could still manage to decipher the time it displayed. _11:56 pm._ Four minutes until they switched themselves on. In the meantime, we both may as well acquaint ourselves with the room. Blitz was fiddling with some kind of laptop on the desk - prodding it with the end of his hoof. In a flash (well, more in a plume of dust), it flipped open with an audible crack.

Meanwhile, I tampered with some buttons on the wall near the door. There were two doors parallel to one another from over the room. Both sharing the same buttons: _Light_ ; _Door_. The light lit up a lamp in the door. Obviously. And the door one slammed a shutter down with a prominent thud. As if we'd need that. These cute little robots were _harmless_. Every poster showed them as cute, anyway. I hadn't actually _seen_ them. Not yet. The back wall was littered with poster after poster of me (the animatronic me - Twinky, as she was known as (which is quite ironic as that is the nickname I'm given by Blitz. Strange.)) doing cute things - making rainbows, hugging friends. The kind of cutesy stuff you expect at foals places. I had a varied amount of feelings towards them - had I ever been that cute and adorable? I were known for battling the bad guys with the gang. The gang. Yep… all animatronics, too. Creepy, huh? Probably, Shadow would look just as awesome as she always does. I'll explain about them later.

But, for now, I need to settle into my first night here. Because, as we all know, magical evil-busters need to eat, too. And you don't get paid for vanquishing evil. Never had a penny. Not like I'm asking the princesses for any… That's awkward.

I'm sorry. I'm not usually so… _strange_. But, as soon as I get nervous, I turn into a completely different unicorn - not the sweet, adorable and optimistic pony everyone sees. I end up acting like some crazed _frog_ up here _._ Does that even make any sense? I don't have any idea. I just know that I am _worried_ I'll mess something up, and that I'll _say_ something wrong to you guys.

Phew… and breathe…

Wait. Is that the… clock? It's bonging. It's… our shift. Ooh, Blare's noticed too.

"Hey! We're on!" he said, seemingly confident enough to me.

"Yeah…"

That was me, naturally. Not like the robots can _talk_. I don't think. Well, we'll maybe meet them later. I just hope they like living ponies, and are as cute and friendly as they seem on the posters. Suddenly, I see a flash. On the laptop-thingy. Whirring follows. It turns on, showing a loading screen.

At least it works.

It appears that the telephone that I had failed to notice (with me being too occupied with the relatively _unimportant_ buttons by the doors) also works, its shrill call echoing through the cavern-like room. Blare merely blew a strand of orange mane out of his face as it kicked into the answer machine.

"… _Er…hello_?" My ears pricked at the voice pounding through the speakers, " _It's_ _me_."

Who's me? I had no idea who the hell it is.

" _This is for you both, Twinkleheart and Blare Blitz. That's right, isn't it? I apologise if it isn't. Anyway, I hope that you are excited for your first night_."

Really? Well, I think you should be saying nervous in place of excited, Mr Phone-Pony.

" _Anyway, I'll cut to the chase. You're the new night guards! Your job is to watch Twinky's and make sure that: A - no one breaks in, and B - the animatronics don't damage themselves while they roam. They begin to roam as soon as the clock strikes midnight."_

As if it would help, Blitz stared at the clock that now showed the time as 12:03am. They were currently roaming while we had no way of watching them. However, as if it was reading my thoughts, the laptop-thing began to display an image of some robotic ponies facing into the area of strewn chairs.

" _The monitor displays what they're all up to. As they get use to you, they'll become more active as each night progresses. Moving on, the buttons on the doors control a shutter, just in case they get a little too close for comfort… But they're absolutely harmless. However, the one to watch is Shadowblaze, as she can glitch at any moment. They didn't have enough money to fix her after the… accident, so she can act up a bit. They'll probably mistake you as other animatronics, which Twinkle, you'll have no problem with, but you, Blitz, may possibly be carried off to the suit room. There's always a spare suit back there of you…"_

"There is?" Blitz exclaimed, a smile creeping across his face, "Ya hear that, Twinky. They have one of me, too."

"And you wanna be put inside it?" I sighed, being a bit of a killjoy. But what good would he be stuffed inside a suit?

The line stopped for a few moments, before continuing, " _So that's also a good reason to have those buttons… heh… I think that'll do for you guys tonight. As you get more used to all this, you'll learn more. Oh, and P.S. Twinky has a habit of singing - don't let her annoy you. Plus, you may experience a few… WEIRD THINGS… as you get further into the night. The ventilation is extremely faulty. Which reminds me, check your vent cameras if you can't see them in any of the rooms. If they aren't there, they're probably in a blind spot. Right, Cheerio!"_

The line drew dead.

"That was helpful." I sighed, slightly annoyed with the lack of information.

Blitz nodded, "-Not."

I huffed a long breath of air out. Finally knowing we were _on_ , my vision fell upon the dusty, well-dated "Monitor". The picture remained the same as it was when I last looked.

"This is gonna be an easy job." I thought aloud, drumming my stubs of what everypony has (called hooves) on the desk. Blitz seemed to hum in agreement. But, then, I realised. Realised something I didn't want to know.

I stammered, "Heh… that was you right?"

His shocked expression gave away no answers.

" _Right?_ "

It sounded again. A melodic hum, however just out of tune. Like what they play in horror movies when something is about to leap out at you. It sounded like a familiar nursery-rhyme. Maybe… ah, that's right. Hickery Dickery Dock. I started to silently mouth the words, when, as if it could see me, a sharp, mechanical voice echoed from the distance, putting in its own interpretation:

 _Hickery Dickery Dock,_

 _The clock's struck 12 o' clock._

 _Our playtime now, our games to play,_

 _Your heart's gonna stop…_

Its laughter followed, my already creeped-out shivers replaced by downright shaking. It seemed that Blitz was as freaked as I. Glaring down at the monitor, I nearly fell over as my own robot's eyes swivelled to meet mine. Despite the black and white image, I knew its eyes were glowing with hunger. Finally, I realised _just_ what I'd gotten myself into. Survive the night. Or die. As I attempted to form words to let Blare know (he had just about frozen), the picture completely fuzzed up, sending crackles throughout the dank office. Every single robot-version of my friend's heads' had snapped around, facing the camera. Did they know we were here? I dreaded to think. I stared up at Blitz, who had made his way to the door somehow. He shoved at the "Door" button, making a "dunk" sound. No door. And again. No door. And again. No door.

The door wasn't doing anything.

I heard some familiar cackles from down the corridors on either side. A mechanical, much more eerie version of Crystal Ruby's voice drifted down and into the Office.

"I've cut them off. After all, out of sight, out of mind, right? You can't see us. Lights out."

Already flickering lights above us cracked out completely. I gasped for breath.

"Eh… No worries! Torch!"

Blare's illuminated face appeared, a torch in his magical, orange grasp. Torch, flashlight. Whatever ya call it. Definitely there. I sighed in relief. Meanwhile, Crystal made a grumble, before I could hear whirring. She'd gone. The lights returned in sleepy flashes, before returning fully. The doors (both) were down. Finally, we were safe. Nothing can get past large, steel doors, _right_?

For a while, anyways. We kept alert, checking the Monitor (which was also very faulty. What a surprise) every so often, accustoming ourselves to the different cameras. Sometimes, because of its _ridiculously stupid_ wiring, we had to keep resetting the damn thing. Sheesh. The owner seemed so tight. The silence (apart from the whirring of the fan and the static of the Monitor) was the only sound besides us, relaxing a bit more as we spoke. Again, Blare had me in stitches with a really bad impression of the animatronics. Good job that cameras don't go two ways. We'd be dead.

Suddenly, something flashed up on the screen. Another camera. No source. I fooled myself to believe it was an external connection. Probably from one of the other, _modern_ , connections. To be fair to myself, it _was_ an external connection. Not a neighbour, unfortunately. Another version of me were sat in a suspicious-looking corner. It had little in it. Infact, it was probably one of those suits the Phone-Pony was wittering on about. I presumed, anyways. Slumped over lifelessly, it lay next to Shadow. Well, _not_ Shadow...

A while ago, as real ponies, us six had encountered our most formidable foe yet (and always be): Night Eclipse. Her fight against us is known as the War of the Shadows now. Mainly as she had two different personalities: a shadowy, wispy form that was more mysterious, and a full pony with a mane and tail of fire. Literally. It shot out of her whenever she was _slightly_ angered. She'd kidnapped Shadow at one point, turning her against us, tricking her into believing that we'd quickly replaced her with a Pegasus called Star Mane. (She had only offered to help us find the Light Stone which would vanquish Eclipse (the Light Stone fell from space many years ago. Little did we know that Star Mane turned into a mini- Nightmare Moon - without the evilness - whenever she came in contact with any from space.) when we used our powers.) Shadow fell for it, and therefore turned into an evil version of herself, who Eclipse named "Dark Shadows". I had no idea that this place knew about that. Or anything else. But, she was there. Mane a-flare. Wings transformed. Eyes dragonised. It was. No dream. All of this was no dream. The robots, Blare's nervous twitching, the banging at the door…

They were here!

Somehow, they'd managed to get up here without either of us noticing. The camera distracted us while they moved in. I didn't know how many, or who, was there, but I surely didn't want to find out. The clock yelled one over the scratchy taps against the doors.

 _Hickery Dickery Dock,_

 _It's now 1 o'clock,_

 _You live for now, but not for long,_

 _Your doors are gonna rock…_

Twinky had to be there. Her singing sounded so close, it was almost as if she was in the room. Her pattering against the door intensified slowly. Both of us in the Office silently gulp gallons of air at once. Screaming, she then banged against it furiously, her metalwork clanging against that of the door. I gasped quickly, making myself cough on the air. I heard a chuckle from outside, seemingly pleased with my unpleasant falter. The tapping ceased. As Blitz slowly turned his eyes to meet mine, I did too, shaken from the aggressive attack against our systems.

When I said earlier that if they could see us taking the mick out of them, we'd be dead, I was wrong.

We'd die anyways.

My eyes darted around the Monitor screen, trying to get an advantage over them - _something_ they were weak to. Nothing. The stage showed two more empty spaces. Shadow had gone. So had Crystal. This was getting too creepy, even for me. Send fifty Night Eclipses at me. Two thousand angry parasprites. Just not these six animatronic ponies. Anything but them. Crystal appeared in the hall furthest away from us. Both Blare and I sighed in relief. However…

Shadow was gone.

Nowhere. Not in any room. Maybe she was in a blind spot? The dude on the other end of the phone was on about some blind spots where the cameras couldn't see. Unless… I heard clanging above me. The vents! Of course. Rapidly, and before I did, Blitz switched to the vent cameras, instantly closing the vent off when he saw her quickly approaching the vents right above us. I heard a grumble, and a steel hoof clanging inside the vent wall in annoyance. Then the retreating whirring and clanging. My eyes frantically scanned the vent cover located directly above me to make sure it was safe. Thankfully, it was. No hidden movement or entrance to my relief.

And then it was quiet.

An eerily silence that crept like an ambush predator.

Promising only an attack.

It stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity - me and Blitz staring into the Monitor screen, then at each other, before glaring at the doors in an icy stare-off. And back in that loop again and again. Even our breathing fell silent, hushed by danger's tongue. Clip clop. It was outside the door, pulsing in a rhythmic pattern. Then a hum. A familiar one. One Crystal sang as she carved jewellery for Ponyville when she was enjoying herself.

This was creepily accurate - how on Earth did the programmers know all this?

I felt Blare's hoof brush along me, this time not making any woos or suggestive ideas (that's his typical self) as he switched cameras. Crystal was closer, and was holding some kind of mechanical tool. Shock dented my face. It was a grinder-thing that the _real_ Crystal used to grind apart and smooth down jewels. She… She was going to use it on the door. She stroked the tool as she hummed, pressing a switch that made it roar into life. Her eyes flipped up as a grin was painted upon her muzzle.

"Oh _nooo._ " I mumbled, again staring in expectation at the door. All silent. Blitz poked my shoulder gently, feeling the tremble of his hoof as the door to the right (not the left, as I'd been looking at) started to promise sound of angry machinery. It grew louder. And louder. And louder.

… _Until it was upon the door_.

The satanic squeal of it scuffing the matte surface of steel shrilled through our ears. A chorus of laughter carried its way, somehow, over the screech of the grinder. Twinky was right in her out-of-tune song. Our door did rock. The shutter shuddered with every weakening.

" _Stop now, Ani-Crystal!_ " I yelled over the screaming, my hooves now firmly plugged into my ears. Alas, doing little to combat it. I guess I could call them "Ani-" in front of their name to save confusion? Would that be helpful to you? Good. It's settled, then. So, the door was shuddering more, sparks flying past the tips of my nose. But then, it stopped. _Grinded_ to a halt (lol). And her eye appeared in the hole she created.

"We don't want you here! Go!" I was using an old tactic of mine, when once, the actual Crystal went insane after Raindrop accidently dropped one of her best boots in the mud. Afterwards, she went flying off in rage. When we all later went to see her, she refused to apologise, and failing to convince her to do so, we left.

Soon, she tired of being on her own, and so came back, however still persisting to not apologise to Raindrop, and still said she did it on purpose. Starting to kick off at Raindrop again, I decided to tell her to leave - she wasn't our friend no more. Not being serious, though. It seemed to work. She ceased, her face softening as she realised what she was doing. And then everything was rosy.

Maybe it would work _this_ time.

Ani-Crystals eyes widened in surprise. Her pupils expanded.

"It's _work-ing._ " I whispered to Blitz.

And then Shadow and Twinky appeared by her side - I hadn't put them into the equation. They murmured to her (yes - they could speak), telling her that they were her friends, and that we were the unrightful copies of them (how twisted was that? They were the copies of _us_!), and we needed to be eliminated.

 _Eliminated_? _F**k._

Those eyes of hers burned in hatred, returning to their angry, slotted-pupil-and-small-iris selves. Twinky's shone with the hunger of death and revenge - did she believe what she really said, or was it a ploy to return Ani-Crystal to herself? I had no idea. Probably, with those demonic, programmed minds. Were they made to kill? Cos nothing made for a foal had teeth as sharp as those things on show. I quivered as my gulp caught. Those teeth weren't there for smiling with - they had to have been designed like that. Maybe to put kids off going too close…

That hadn't worked with the Shadow incident.

I partially knew about it - it littered the papers like fallen leaves on the street in autumn. _Kid Killer._ That's what my newspaper marked up as the headline. A pic of Ani-Shadow in a shutdown state plagued the news, every article and broadcast mimicking the last - Ani-Shadow had had some kind of glitch-up or programming error that caused her to leap onto a foal for no reason, apart from that he approached her. She ended up doing something bad enough to kill him - turning the most popular child attraction into a faded memory…

That was what had happened before. That was what I mentioned.

Before I even realised it, the clock sang two. The three animatronics peering through the door all tilted their heads in unison to attempt to see the clock, almost disbelieving its chime. Twinky laughed darkly, before chanting.

 _Hickery Dickery Dock,_

 _We're up to 2 o'clock_

 _Well done so far, you haven't run…_

 _Oh yeah! The doors are locked!_

I found Shadow and Crystal too chiming it in a torturous round, as every note whirled round my head in a hurricane. Their voices scratched into one another as their song echoed, doubling every word they mimicked after one another. My eyes diluted. Shrinking back, covering my ears, in any attempt to rid myself of the noise, I screamed in fear and hatred and horror and pure tiredness of it ringing through my brain. Cackles swirled in the air.

" _Stop!_ " I screeched as long as my lungs would allow, trying to drown out the noise. Then, I notice something. Their ears flipped, slightly sparking, even, when I did that. Maybe…

"Blitz!"

His head quivered in fear as he turned to me.

"Scream!"

Blitz's face was one etched with confusion. Typical. So I showed him. With a breath, I let loose a high screech, consequently making the ani-ponies cover their ears, sparking and vibrating, before continuing to advance towards us. It took a moment for it to dawn on him. And then his mouth echoed mine in so inharmonious noise. They flinched. And shuddered. And vibrated. And made such a screech of metal from inside, it made our noise sound like beautiful singing. Their sound of dying was like chalk down a blackboard, but amplified many times and played into a steel room of doom. Deciding against trekking any further into our Office, they back away submissively. Or so I thought. They were really covered in scowls and annoyance as they backed off, not willing to partake in this walk of torture no longer.

And they left, leaving us to live a little longer.

Watching the Monitor with increasing alertness, we found them retreating back to the stage, informing the other three, less trouble causing ani-ponies about their horror, as they clutched their head in their hooves. With a visual sigh, they laid down onto the stage, obviously put off by our dynamic voices. Silently, for the first time, we felt slightly victorious. And, for the first time, I did something that night.

I smiled.

They left us alone for an hour - three o'clock brought a whole new challenge. And, as we were to learn, Twinky wasn't _really_ the head of this place. She had a much stronger foe to contend with… Her song echoed from the stage, sounding much weaker and pained than before:

 _Hickery Dickery Dock,_

 _We've hit 3 o'clock._

 _Our children of dark now wake for fun,_

 _Don't tell me you forgot?_

Blitz dared to look at me as I let out an exasperated sigh. These robots. Playing games constantly. What had we _forgot_? Some important meeting? I really didn't care anymore - I was just awaiting the chimes of the clock at six, so we could high-tail out of here and not come back. But, as an image made itself alive on the Monitor screen, I found both of us sitting back in fear, gulping for oxygen. The same screen with the two animatronics - one of "Sad Twinky" and Dark Shadows. But…

Different.

 _Very_ different.

I realised that as two dragonised eyes swivelled to meet mine, a grim smile creeping around her jaws as her mouth slowly opened, revealing several pointed teeth. _Much_ sharper than the other ani-ponies ones. Ani-Dark Shadows slowly raised her head, swivelling it side to side as she almost was prepping up, about to start her nights' work. But, it wasn't an almost. It was. She had plenty of work to do. And she knew it. Her wings sliced out like penknives, before standing up. Racing towards the door in anticipation for a killing spree. I'd almost forgotten about Sad Twinky's empty suit.

That, surprise surprise, didn't turn out to be empty at all. Inhabited by steel. Two small, faint, hopeless dots in her still black eyes raised in them, as steadily, she rose, her head still hanging forwards as she plodded towards the camera we were looking through. She did something that surprised me so much, I screamed, but all that came out was a squeak. She lowered herself to the camera (it was on the floor), as she shaped her mouth into two words. A cry for help. A need of rescue. Silently, however it sounding as clear as day to me, despite her silence and distance away, she uttered them into its image.

Her words. Paining, even though she probably wanted to kill me too. I even felt sorry for her. What she had actually said, was…

 _Help me._

Why would an animatronic pony with blackened-out eyes need help? It was a suit. And as far as I knew, it was empt-

…

Maybe not. To my disbelief, I saw the faint glint of an eye in there. I didn't want to know what was in there. But, I had already seen the inerasable image of a dead pony in it, knowing that, if we failed, we too would meet a similar fate. Maybe the _dead pony_ wanted help? Bit late for that…

Perhaps a spirit lived on in an animatronic shell? Maybe that's what made them… live…

With its own creepy mind, the Monitor flicked back to where we'd left it - the Stage. The six animatronics looked around, almost dreadfully. Scared, even. Screeches of Ani-Darks (her short name) echoed through the sparse corridors, reverberating from every direction. Were they scared of her? Perhaps they'd all had a run-in before.

"Hey, Twinks. Look at that…" Blitz said, gesturing towards the screen. They'd all backed into a defensive ball. But as Sad Twinky crossed passed them, they stared at her blankly while she did nothing but plainly drift past (her walk was almost a floating one), saying nothing - not even looking at them. Not like we could tell if she did. The oily black wells of her eyes concealed all. She plodded off of view, heading off to the Office…

What the - why did she want us?!

 _Not another one to kill us, I hope_ I thought to myself.

Surprisingly, and as we watched the Monitor, wearing horrified expressions, we saw Ani-Darks race into the Stage room, before hurtling at the six animatronics. She attacked them as they squirmed in defence, she biting, scratching, tackling them all. My eyes widened at the images I saw dancing across the screen.

An eerie silence fell, before being broken by the four bongs of the equally unsettling clock. Their 4 o'clock never came. They were relatively unharmed, alas scattered across the stage in heaps of metal, shut off.

Everything stopped.

Ani-Darks lay among her slayed prey.

Sad Twinky pressed up against a foals drawing.

Blitz stared blankly at the still images.

I stared at the clock.

Everypony had fallen still - in a trance that time had weaved around us.

Soon, I decided to look further into Sad Twinky's strange behaviour. What was so important? Was there even any relevance? The image of her I'd seen before seemed to lead me to observe her, and her words wouldn't leave me. She curled up on the floor with a drawing she had now placed beside her, as she stroked it with her forehoof. I looked in bewilderment as she stared at it deeply, a single black drop sliding down her pale cheeks. She hummed a lullaby-like tune to it, still looking far into the lines the foal had drawn. This was the only tune that night I had heard that made me feel relaxed. It wasn't one that was out of tune, but perfectly sung in a voice that surprised me for an animatronic - it was a _real_ voice. Hanging on each note, she began to add her words to it, making it sound even more like a soothing lullaby.

 _Hush now sweet child,_

 _Do not be afraid,_

 _Like the seawater, so blue._

 _With those wings, child,_

 _Take flight and away,_

 _Your mama will soon find you…_

I felt my eyes grow damp with sadness. Each word was so meaningful - so peaceful… and so sweet. And yet, she had no reason to sing no more. A soul deserted on our simple plane. A light trapped in a darkening world.

"Woah…" Blitz sniffled, watching the images as she lay stiffly. He looked at me, before continuing, "She's really down…"

I nodded silently, "I think I may know why." I saw his face light up with an idea, "And we can't do anything for her." I said, instantly destroying his hopes. I hated to be a killjoy with him, but we _really_ couldn't do anything. No one ever can.

The curse of life is that death cannot be stopped.

I hadn't even realised that our shift had finished. We'd stared at that screen for ages. Time seems to fly once you're not being hunted by killer ponies. I can say that I've never been so glad to get out of somewhere in my entire life. Blitz and I literally raced out of there, side by side. Somehow, that had brought us closer in some strange way… I wanted to leave that entire night behind. Never return. But I had to. I had to help her, her blackened eyes still following me wherever I ran, haunting me. Begging me to help. Her words still chipping at my brain.

 _Help me…_

 **Phew! Chapter 1 complete! Sorry that took so long :3 Every chapter will be about the same length, too, so it may be a while before I get the next one up! This was what I was talking about when I said "not suitable for younger audiences". Killer ponies. I did warn you.**

 **Anywho, if you have read it, I hope it has satisfied your hunger, and I hope you enjoyed it! (There are some clues to the plot in FNAT2 here, I wonder if you can find them!) Until next time, have fun, keep your eyes peeled for Part 2, and I hope Twinky doesn't find you!**


	3. Investigations

Chapter 2: Investigations

 _Great. Per-fect._

Round of applause, Mr. _I'm-gonna-creep-the-shit-out-of-everypony_ Owner. Why would you make that?!

Just… I don't understand ponies - there all fucked up. Massively.

…

I think I'm done.

Anyway - Blitz had a pretty decent day-mare (cos it's not a nightmare if it's in the day, right?), where, for some reason, he was being chased around his house by the Ani-Ponies, except he informs me they were _much_ creepier. As in, gigantic teeth, fire manes, falling apart, huge stones and crystals. Pah. What an imagination. I always knew he was the creative type - hence his cutie mark. Dance. I don't blame him though. Those things were _scary._

So he came round here - shaking me awake. Not the best thing to do after the night we had, but anyway. Take two.

Y'know when you get that feeling of that things can get a lot worse? Hmm.

I'm really dreading this.

In a heartbeat, it felt like, we've found ourselves returning to that forsaken building - the "World of Fun" that was _anything_ but. Blitz and I exchanged a nervous glance as we met in front of its darkened doors.

"I don't want to go in…" he muttered, stepping back the smallest bit.

I nodded my head, "I don't want to either - but it appears that Mr Fuck-Up hasn't given us a choice."

He urged me to continue with a baffled look.

"I… I rang him earlier." I began, starting to explain my earlier engagement, "He said we're going nowhere until this week is up. Looks like we're stuck here."

"But we still don't have to go in!"

"What - and look like the town idiots - a sudden coward? No way. I'm either going to come out victorious, or die trying." My usual headstrong-ness shone like a brightened bulb. Blitz gave a single, forlorn _humph._

"No wonder you never come with us!" I sighed, half-jokingly, at him. It was true - he practically never came on any kind of quest with us, brave has he may be. But no, not sticking around to help save Equestria. I secretly hope he's not gonna leave me on my own _this_ time. His eyes shifted awkwardly before I continued, "You'd really leave me alone?" I asked sadly, my own opticals falling to the floor.

"You know I wouldn't…" he said, suddenly appearing guilty for even thinking about it. He pressed up against me in a more-than-friendly matter, and this time, I let him. See? Easily forgiven.

"Now, we ought to get ourselves comfy, am I right?"

He gave a reluctant, shallow nod in agreement, giving both of us the permission to enter through the glass panels. We cautiously, slowly, paced in, staring in every corner of the Mane Hall to see if they were waiting for us. He began to head towards that dusty, old Office, before I stopped him in his tracks.

"Should we check these Ani-Ponies out properly?" I suggested with a hoof wave, and perhaps pushing my luck with him, however he passively asked:

"Why?"

I paused for a moment or two, before adding, "To see if they give us any idea how to survive. Or help Sad Twinky." I'd made it my mission - the only true reason I'd made my return. Robot or not, I _had_ to help her - out of duty, perhaps.

Either way, I was going to sort this. And I wasn't leaving here until I had.

Blitz agreed with my idea - for once, as he'd often say (jokingly) that I was "too reckless", or "gonna get myself killed", and would make cute-ish remarks such as "Has my mysterious mare got us tangled in some kind of nightmarish mess again?" Sometimes, honestly, he's too adorable for me to handle. Just friends though. I suppose, anyway. Right, we're off to see this maniacs.

The corridors snaking to the Showstage spiralled like falling snow, sending us down countless different ways. I'd decided that, while doing so, we may as well acquaint ourselves with the place. Doors jutted out of walls in different areas that all looked identical to the last. You could get lost in this place, I'm sure. Again, another sadly dulled door past us in silence, however it didn't go unnoticed like the last two. Something pulled me towards it. Definitely different to the last.

"Do you see that?" I asked Blitz, who had stood by my side as I analysed the warning sign on the door. It threateningly read, "Dangerous. Do not enter at any means." Something back there was important, and obviously the creepy owner wanted us nowhere near it. On the contrary…

Blitz sighed, "You seriously want to go in there?" as I lined my eye up with a hairline of a keyhole.

"Ah-ha." I hummed, enthralled in my new challenge, as I leant in from all different angles, trying to see the faintest glint of _something_. No luck so far.

"And the one time you really need Crystal for something…" I groaned, knowing my fellow nightguard would finish it off, for a) knowing me so well, and b) as he's had the very same problem himself.

"-She's nowhere in sight." He chuckled, nervousness tinged in his voice.

I mumbled, squinting through the hole, "She'd no doubt be able to make a key… out of some kind of stone, anyway-" Then, I stopped. Something was indeed in there. It glinted in a matte way - like it had given in on life. With this place, I didn't doubt the fact that it _had_ done at some point.

"Blitz! Look!" I cried quietly, as I invited him to peer in through the keyhole. Reluctantly, he slid towards it, lowering his head in alignment with the hole.

"I don't see anyth- Woah!"

He stumbled backwards, landing on the floor with an odd-sounding _dunk_.

"What is it? Surely a piece of metal isn't _that_ much of a revelation…"

"No!" he cried, waving his hooves angrily in the air, "there was a… a…an eye! Staring right back at me!"

I held back the urge to roll my eyes, and merely stared at him in disbelief.

"Look for yourself!" he jerked an ordering arm towards the door.

I sighed, before giving in. If I did, it'd probably calm him down a bit - showed I "believed" him. Oh well - it'll be his mind playing tricks on h-

 _Aaaargh! Shit!_

A scarlet eye, furrowed in confusion, stared back at me with the intensity of a raging fire.

"Believe me now?" Blitz trembled, as we both shuffled away from the door. Hell did I!

I cried out, eager to gallop away and see the less mysterious things, "Let's go!" I leapt up and trotted hastily, a worried Blitz chasing my tail.

Little did we know, that our only true friends in this place lay behind that door, vulnerable and unknowing of us - and also threatened by the Ani-Ponies. A single, broken, shallow cry for help was murmured to our retreating figures, before slumping into shutdown once more.

We reached the Showstage in a state opposite to the one we wanted to enter in - instead of showing those Ani-Ponies that we weren't afraid of anything, we showed up panting, gasping and babbling to each other about the "creepy thing behind the door". Twinky's -1, Ponies - 0. Ugh. Not like they'd (probably) noticed - a firm 11:17 sat above the entrance, marking their relative death - for now, anyway.

Cast in a pale moonlight, a stage of mahogany and oak stood in silence, flanked by a cascade of scarlet curtains, sweeping their tassels along the tarnished wood. And on it, it was them. All six of them, lined up in order, like ornaments on a side. Expressionless. Lifeless. Harmless?

Clearly not, from last night. But to anyone otherwise, they were nothing important. Mere statues created for foals' entertainment. But; they were anything but.

They were killers. Murderers of the worst kind - and could never be in trouble for it.

I stared up at the now silent pony animatronics, silently whispering to Blitz, "They look a bit different now…"

"Indeed…" he nodded shallowly, "They do."

Slightly awe-struck, you could say, by the sight of these robots standing above us, staring idly out across rows and rows of strewn chairs, we slowly made our way to them, closer with every hoof we inched forward. The shrill calls of cold tiling under colder feet filled our ears with clops. Nothing could stop us.

Or, maybe memories could? And, I don't mean the recent memories of our confrontations. I mean:

The memories of death staining the floor.

Literally. My eyes strayed from the threatening robots to a mere stain on the cream tiling. Just a dim, hardly-there tinge of red in a pool, lay near the corner of the room. Almost as if something - or someone - was cornered there. And pretty much ruined there. That was what had happened; the pieces of the jigsaw were starting to move into place. For one, stupid moment, I kinda felt sorry for the Ani-Ponies. They were left there, isolated except for the night-time, when no one was awake (except us two idiots), and forever put in front of their wrongdoing; left to dwell on their cruel mistake, and suffer for it.

Maybe they'd been driven insane by being put in front of such a sight - after all, they were programmed to _entertain_ and insure _safety_ with the foals and fillies that often wandered in here. Yet again, this was the very _worst_ place a young pony could be in for protection. In fact, they'd most likely fall to the jaws of the very same… _beings_ that were their guardians. Just like Shadow…Things had gone so wrong somewhere in time, and now: it'd never end.

"I know what I have to do…" I thought aloud, my determined look spreading across my face.

Blitz's eyes remained fixed on the faint stain, "And that'll be?"

"I have to save them."

"Who?"

"Everyone."

"How?"

I paused, pondering on the fact of how to actually achieve my near impossible mission, "…Free their souls…" I murmured - the only solution that actually made sense to me.

"You what now?" Blitz had never really been knowing on the kind of supernatural, spirit knowledge I looked into when I was younger. After all, it was my best trick to get rid of the bullies - just summon a spectre or two, or tell them some kind of true story about places they loved most…

I'm going off of subject, but either way, it worked.

"Twinkle?" he jolted a little bit, as he stared at me in disbelief, "Now I know you're a unicorn, like me, but surely - what in Equestria are you banging on abou -"

" _If_ I can somehow free them of their thought - the Ani-Ponies, I mean, or in some way be able to take them away from here - or reprogram them or _something,_ I could possibly change why they are like this. I have to get into what they're thinking. But, first, we have to prove to them that we're worth telling."

Silence, and a few, perplexed blinks - just the reaction I was expecting.

"Survive the week, Blitz. The month, maybe. But I can't leave here without ending all of this. And, Sad Twinky is definitely inhabited by the living pony's spirit - we have to break her out. And I know it won't be beautiful, but - "

"This is crazy."

Three words that ended my plane of thought - my insane babbling flying out of the air in one go, like a bubble being burst in a shower of soap.

"You're gonna kill yourself one of these days, Twinks." He sighed at me, his saddened eyes staring into mine, as his hoof traced the small indentation of teeth marks on the tiling.

More suggestions to the torturous affairs that took place here.

More clues for me.

"I know I will Blitz." I shrugged, not particularly bothered, "But we all die someday. I'm just doing as much as I can beforehand - I'm not gonna be a pony who sleepwalks through _this_ daydream. I'm going to be _real_."

Blitz seemed to ponder on that for a moment, before saying, "…I guess you're right really - but putting yourself _in_ danger isn't going to help you, is it? No early graves, Twinkleheart." And then he kissed me on the cheek (daft stallion he is), and whispered down my ear, "Cos I don't want no more nasty surprises. "


	4. The REAL Night 2

That, of course - with such an eventful life - would not come true. It was, literally, broken in a few seconds, to be truthful. As it turned out that we'd dwelled in that room a little too long.

As in - midnight. Animatronics wakey-wakey time.

Woopee.

Back to the Mane Hall.  
"Blitz, I won't cause you anymore trouble." I smiled, trying to let him know that this time, I'd listened.  
"Then let's get out of here."  
"And go where?"  
"Mine."  
"Oh, so I can walk in on you playing with your…"  
"No. But I didn't know you'd decided to drop by!"  
"But! Eew! -"

A sudden clang of hooves announced their presence. Stood. Right. Next to me. I could almost feel their non-existent breath crawling down my neck. The chiming of the clock now only faintly carried through from the Office, its small, weak and helpless bongs warning us of an already immediate danger.  
"Well, well, well - look what pretty little ponies we have here." The screech of a metallic voice sounded through the dark silence, swirling around me. Twinky's nose touched the base of my ear, the frozen metal sending the fur around it into spasm; hair flicking like the wildest fire. I held my breath. She and her friends had us in their hoofs grasp. Exactly where they want us to be. And one decision, and we'd both be ended.

Terribly.

Then, I felt the touch of her serrated teeth as she dragged them down my face. Wincing, I grit my teeth, and dared not to move, petrified of the outcome if I did.  
"Brave girl, aren't you now? They usually don't get this far…"  
"This treatment is normal?!" I exclaimed in a whisper, a thought escaping my lips. Realising I'd just spoken, I squeaked, and shrunk a little further.  
I felt my animatronic self smile around my skin, as she replied, "Only for those who are special."  
I felt my eyes peel open, daring to look at Blitz, who had both Ani-Shadow and Ani-Crystal nipping at his ankles. The determination to not yelp shone through his face, and each time, they bit harder, and I saw the small pinpricks of red beginning to show.  
"How?"  
"You're us, my fellow Twinkleheart." She answered casually, releasing my ear from her toothy grip, "And we're made to be you. For entertainment. Now tell me - what kind of life is that? Being a tool of fortune, living only to re-enact someone else that is alive."  
I'd never seen it like that before - they knew exactly what they were for. Brighter even then we imagined.  
"And - if we're copies, the originals are around. If we kill all of you - we're the real ones. No longer a tool. But something we can call ourselves."  
I remained silent - they felt like they were nothing. Just like me.

So much like us. And yet so different.  
All us living ponies feel - and they are the same. Not robots. But… dare I say… pony. I'd got it wrong. I'd got life wrong. Everything I ever knew was a lie from before - until this point.

Lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie.

"Killing us isn't the answer though." I replied, sounding surprisingly calm, even in this situation, "And, besides, how can you kill all of us?"  
"That's where you were meant to come in… did you really think we'd kill you for no reason? We would if you refused to bring them." Ani-Shadow began to be part of the conversation, both animatronics now abandoning Blitz's tasty hooves.  
Blitz exclaimed with a pained tone in his voice, "What kind of idea is that?"  
"One we have no choice upon."  
"But you do!" I whined, my hoof clicking incessantly on the tiling, aggravating everyone more than needed.  
Twinky blankly stared at me, almost saying "We'd be doing this otherwise?" in her eyes, before she turned away from all of us, and began to pace off into another direction. Ani-Shadow and Ani-Crystal watched after her, before looking back at us, confused; and chased after her.  
"Should we go? I'm not sure…" Blitz asked, standing next to me as we watched the fading figures of the three robot ponies.  
"To be honest, I'm not sure of anything now."

Slowly, and slightly dazed from our close encounter, we plodded towards the Office, a flickering light blinking as we walked in.  
"I doubt much will happen tonight…" I sighed heavily, flopping onto my seat as if I hadn't sat for years.  
"If you think so."  
My head snapped round as I found Ani-Shadow leaning casually against the back of my chair, and she stared at the cogs in her hoof moving as she twisted her metal wrist. Why in Equestria was she here?  
"I've been waiting for you. You left the doors open - easier for me than climbing through that awful venting system." She span around, her head resting against the top of my shoulder.  
I awkwardly shifted away from her, minding not to fall off of the dangerously small-seated chair, "That's apparent."  
"Anyway, I was wondering whether you'll…" Shadow started, before trailing off and staring at the walls, pasted with the crumbling pictures of Twinky's World of Fun, "-Whether you'll just…"  
"Just what?" Blitz urged, as he leaned forward.  
"Maybe… help us."  
"With what?" I started, as I turned to face her, beginning to feel for them in my heart.  
"-Save us. From her. She'll destroy us."  
I cocked my head in confusion, the exaggeration on "her" making me believe there was some kind of threat to contend with. Whirring sounded from down the corridor, the echoing hoofsteps slowly approaching.  
"I - I said too much. Forget everything. I have to go!" Ani-Shadow babbled in her metallic voice, and before I could stop her; leapt away from us; out of the door; her running calling down the hall, melding with the others.  
"What was she gonna say?" Blitz questioned openly, as he looked at me in bewilderment.  
"I guess we won't know unless she comes back one time. I guess there's those who can't be helped…"

The hazy Monitor buzzed as it showed us the animatronic ponies huddled together in the hall, and as they slowly crawled their way back to the Mane Hall, I decided to breathe - most likely there would be no trouble tonight.  
"They're off back to the Mane Hall." I told Blitz, fully aware he'd already worked that out himself. We remained to switch our cameras, watching them as they travelled from room to room, passage to passage. They appeared to be scolding Shadow for coming to us. I pitied her - her (imaginary) heart was in the right place for all of them. Even if she wasn't always agreed with. Just like our Shadow.

I looked up from the Monitor for a moment, and took a glance at the clock - 12:30 am. Five and a half hours of an easier night. At least, from the Ani-Ponies. The split wood of the stage moaned as they lay down upon its rough surface, worn with ages of performing and excitable fillies, and they sat. Just sat together; united. Nothing unsettled - just peace for once in a lifetime of chaos. I slid the wheeled chair back; away from the burning screen (both metaphorically and literally - the heat that old thing produced to make a monotone image was ridiculous), and slid towards my stallion friend.  
"Hi!" I smiled, a stupid greeting I did to anypony - even when I'd already been with them all day. My invitation to make a conversation.  
He picked his hoof up, waving in a cautious manner, "Don't you think we should shut the doors?"  
"No - they won't bother us tonight…"  
The faint echo of humming filled the air.  
"No no no! Shit! Not again!" Blitz cried, darting to the doors and swinging straight for the button.  
"Blitz!" I gasped, surprised at his petrified reaction to say how collected he usually was. I walked over to him, placed a hoof on his back, and guided him back to his chair. I waited for him to listen.  
"See - it's just a normal song. It isn't out of tune, or sang with aggression or hunger. They're making up."  
The sweet notes filled the child's play-place, wrapping our ears in tender voices and calm souls as their words reached us. A peaceful, harmonious round that both of us knew from our childhoods. It didn't take Blitz long to realise what it was.  
"…Is that… "Together"?"  
"It is." I smiled softly, rocking side to side in time with the steady beat.  
He gazed to where the voices were calling from, and a beam spread across his muzzle,"…Honestly? It is!"  
"I just said that!" I giggled as he began to sway in time too. The place seemed quite merry in that moment - two silly, swaying ponies, and six singing animatronics. We let ourselves soak in the oh-so-familiar chorus we grew up with, letting their round twirl through our minds:

No matter what anypony says,  
We'll be together always,  
If you're true to yourself, then you shall see,  
What you all mean to me!

" - Music seems quite a big thing here, don't you think? It seems to rule the place…" I pondered, wondering if song did have any true relevance here.  
"Yeah - and it isn't to us lot? I mean, you write, play and sing; I dance; Willow uses it in her performances; Crystal hums while she works… that to say only a few…"  
"…I never really thought about how much we're all connected to it…"

"What about we go to them?" I came out with after some time of quiet chat, the round of song still unfinished.  
"Seriously?"  
My head bobbed with a nod, as I replied, "I don't think they'll hurt us now. This could be an enjoyable job…"  
"…Maybe…" he pondered, his hooves tapping the rough exterior of the desk, "Fine then - we can fare our chances against the Ani's."  
I wooped with happiness, before crying, "I thought you'd never say that!"  
"Neither did I, ironically…" he sighed as I leapt out of my chair, bouncing on the spot like an excited 5-year old.  
"C'mon!"  
"I'm coming - I'm coming!" He laughed as I darted out of the door, him chasing my tail.

*****  
The same criss-crossing paths gave us a cold reception once more, and I soon began to replace my excitement with nervousness - the Ani-Ponies song had hushed, and now the only sound that echoed through the halls were our hoofsteps and their whirring.  
"Hey…that door's over there…" Blitz pointed out, slowing to a stop as he stared at the same sign and keyhole we'd encountered earlier, "Think that that thing's still there?"  
"Where else would it go while the door's locked?" I smiled, slightly nervous of whoever was in there. That eye had burned like fire when it saw us…  
He suggested, inching closer to the door, "Maybe it's not as bad as we think - like the Ani's?"  
"Wow - you've changed your tune, stallion!"  
"That's a problem…?" He chuckled, as this time, he peered through the keyhole of secrets. He shifted himself into a fountain of different shapes and bends - I was surprised he hadn't broken his back yet!  
"There's something glinting in there…" he concluded, "And it's further away this time - I can see it. It looks like a… hoof of some kind?"  
"Not another dead pony I hope…" I sighed, before lining up next to him, hinting him to move so I could see. Lining myself up with the angle of the keyhole, I caught a glimpse of a sleeping animatronic, its transcending hair splashing around its neck like the ocean.  
"Woah…" I smiled, the soft, calm features of the robot instantly making me feel comfortable around it. I stared some more - the eye from earlier surely wouldn't be from such a placid android? I scanned every corner of the room, not seeing anything besides dark walls.  
Mumbling to myself, "There has to be another one…", Blitz watched my determined stance in amusement, me trying to catch a sight of anything.  
"That could be the only one…"  
"It won't be. That one doesn't seem to fit the eye."  
"It's asleep - how would you know?"  
"Trust me." I grumbled, tiring of his argument against my gut feeling. I knew it, deep down, that something wasn't quite right. Then, disbelieving my own eyes, I thought I saw the darting shape of a flame, its orange glow dancing in my eyeline.  
"There is -!"  
A voice that rolled like thunder stopped my sentence, the vibrations of its growl running through my hooves, "Go."  
I gaped - indeed there were something. Obviously something that didn't want to be disturbed, "But-" I began, trying to defend my curiosity.  
"I said leave. Now."  
In that moment, he reminded me so much of my past, I stammered back from the door. The thing was, I'd heard a voice so similar to that one before from someone I grew close to - a second father to me. And then, he was ripped away from Equestria by a kikiyaon. Never to be seen again: trapped in a rift between life and death forevermore. I shall take my revenge once they return; one day, they will.  
"Twinks?" Blitz puzzled, standing by me, staring at the door in surprise.  
I heard a fierce rumble from inside, "Twinks? As in Twinky? How dare you come here again!"  
"No no no!" I cried, waving my hooves in protest, "I'm a real pony! This place was built in tribute of the Gang!"  
"It was your fault, then?"  
"For what?"  
"This was our child's place. Now it's yours - well, at least your counterparts…", his voice quietening now as we heard a faint whirring from inside.  
"Hello?" I questioned, thinking it probably had walked away. In truth, it had. But it was replaced with the now awake, female-looking one.  
"What is it, Twinky?" This time, a softer, definitely feminine voice questioned, sounding much calmer and kinder than the last, "Or is it the real one?"  
"She's the real Twinkleheart…" Blitz assured her, tapping the door in an almost welcoming gesture.  
Her voice lowered to a whisper, "They can't find you here - you need to go. Metal may sound brutish, but he's doing the best for you… And I wouldn't contemplate going to them - they're bad news through and through."  
"We know…" I sighed, looking at the floor sheepishly. Could I trust them - they could be with the others, for all I know!  
"Quick! They're stirring! Run!" She cried quietly, as her hasty hoofsteps retreated into the crevices of the room. I could only think about how great her hearing must be if she knew… Unless she was lying... I wasn't trusting towards these two, random and suspicious animatronics.  
Either way, we moved away from the door, and I began to turn towards the way of the Mane Hall - Blitz going the other.  
"What are you doing?" he snarled a vicious whisper, showing his utter disbelief in me. I tossed my plait out of the way, ignited my horn in sea blue magic, and grabbed his tail in my grasp. He displayed an exasperated expression as he'd began to be dragged along, but didn't struggle, nor did he say anything. Good decision, I would say.

*****  
It didn't take long before we reached the Mane Hall, and Blitz's lack of a struggle made dragging him here an easy task. My hoofsteps reverberated in there, spiralling around the draping, scarlet curtains, as I walked in, my fellow pony in tow. The Ani-Ponies heads' snapped up, staring at me and my prize as I trotted in in a merry manner. Their eyes widened, surprised at us (mostly me dragging Blitz, I think).  
"Hi there!" I grinned, as I swung Blitz along the floor to stand next to me, and finally letting go.  
"Um…hi?" Ani-Willow, the first I had seen of her in person (what the hay is a person, anyway? An expression we use, with no idea what a "person" is…), said cautiously, "And he is?"  
"Oh, Blitz." I smiled, gesturing to him to introduce himself. He picked up a hoof in a very unenthusiastic greeting. Wonderful.  
"…Anyway!" I quickly moved on from my shameful pal, "We were -"  
"You were wondering…" Blitz sighed, shrugging casually as if he were trying to annoy them. My hoof struck out lightly, tapping him in the side - a warning to shut his mouth before I did it myself.  
"No, we were wondering if it would be OK to join you? With everything else being water under the bridge, right?"  
They all exchanged unreadable glances. Admittedly, the expression that they didn't show made me even more nervous than if they'd grimaced in disapproval.  
Twinky stood up, and leapt down from the stage fairly feline-like. She paced up to me, slinking across the room in caution (obviously the no-trust was two ways, to my relief). Finally she stopped a few hooves in front of me, and I smiled nervously, hoping she wasn't going to take this all the wrong way and kill Blitz and I. I stepped backwards in surprise as she smiled, and gave a bow, welcoming us to their home.  
"Of course. If we're going to get on, we all should communicate nicely. And what better way to learn about one another than to talk tonight?"  
I nodded with a hum of agreement, and I traced her hoofsteps with my own as we approached the stage. I turned back to regard Blitz, completely glued to the spot, his mouth hung open in shock. I trotted back to him, sighing slightly as he stared into space.  
"Blitz?"  
He still remained frozen solid in surprise.  
"Blitz!" I exclaimed, tapping him on his back a few times, as he, startled, jumped back into ponykind.  
"You coming?"  
"Er…yeah?"  
"Okie, you're definitely not with it…" I chuckled to myself as I lead the bewildered stallion up to the stage, he taking no notice about where he was actually going. Twinky had waited for us, and as I joined her, I noticed the Ani-Ponies all had fairly solemn, but smiling, faces, which I'd not noticed before (everything must be destroying them inside, I bet). The rough wood creaked beneath me, and I slowly, cautiously, lay down on its rickety surface, careful not to send me hurtling through it. It moaned quietly, before its wailing settled to silence.  
"…So…" Ani-Raindrop sighed awkwardly, looking sidewards at Blitz and I, lacking any trust in us. She rubbed her hoof against her plain, furless chest, before lying on the floor, "How's life?"  
"Life - a very strong word…" I responded, looking skyward to see if any stars smiled down on me, assuring me that I hadn't made a huge mistake that would end in all of us arrested, killed or of the like, "To say that we were playing on a swords edge with it yesterday…"  
Ani-Willow popped her head up in my eyeline, "Or night!" She grinned merrily as her hooves tucked up under her chin in a small buzz.  
"I guess so! But yesternight… I've never heard of that term…"  
"We have." Ani-Fireshine (I may as well just call her Ani-Shine; less of a mouthful to me), as she finally made her mellow voice known. She trembled her wings, nervous, before continuing, "As we're hardly on anymore in the day, and only awake at night, we refer to yesterday as yesternight, and so on. Nothing to do with bad programming, I can say."  
Blitz chuckled in his usual, hearty way, "We can get used to that!", and I couldn't believe my eyes, for I saw a stallion, that earlier was so intent on staying away from this company, now nestled comfortably between Ani-Crystal and Ani-Shadow, seeming unfased (and even more relaxed than I!) to be in, what I considered, such a vulnerable position if they suddenly turned on us.  
"You ponies aren't as bad as we thought!" Ani-Crystal giggled, sliding a little closer to Blitz and his radiant smile. Welcoming her in, Ani-Shadow soon followed suit.  
"Anyway…" gagged Raindrop, making a sound like metal throwing up, "Why did you guys show up here?" she seemed to be almost threatening us in her own way, rebellious of her friends and their much more welcoming gestures, "It's not like we invited you to stick your muzzles into our business!"  
"I think what Raindrop is trying to say…" Ani-Crystal started nervously, trying to pick things up before it got out of hoof, "Is why you first applied to come and work here? After all, you have such a profile in Equestria!"  
"Well, evil has dried up a bit, and we both needed the money to keep ourselves in good stead. And, besides, I was as curious as a cat about this place, and you guys!" I explained with a small smile balancing on my muzzle.  
Ani-Raindrop grumbled in annoyance, "Were we the boring robots you expected, huh?"  
"Not at all." Blitz answered for me, "In fact, you gave us the opposite! We never expected being near-murdered."  
"We apologise for all of that… It's in our programming to care for children, not adults, and anything that encroaches on our turf has a confrontation to deal with…" Twinky spoke courteously, give a slight head shake at herself.  
"Although sometimes it goes wrong!" Raindrop growled as she gave Ani-Shadow a knock against the head with her back hoof. Shadow wore a blank expression, not caring, nor enjoying the treatment she received, "It's your fault we're stuck like this!"  
"Hey!" Twinky cried, "We had this before! Pack it in, Raindrop. Now! We know she couldn't help her glitch, and neither can you! You did this to me!" The angered animatronic tugged her (realistic) plait away from her neck, revealing a large breakage through the back of her neck and head, "I don't remind you every day of it, do I! Now back off!"  
The tone of the tin growls that resonated deep inside their voice boxes made my ears throb wildly, and, in that moment, I wanted to slide away from the scene and forget all about it. The aggression and tension between everyone was like a swirling hurricane.  
"Why! Who says I should listen to you? Who says any of us does?"  
"I do! And Twinkle, here, is head of her group, too! Not my choice! Isn't that right, Twinkle?"  
I shrunk back, hoping they'd forget I was there, not wanting to get involved in this argument.  
"Twinkle?"  
"Um…yeah?" I gave an awkward grin, pretending to know nothing.  
Twinky gave me an exasperated stare, "You seriously missed all that?"  
I looked sidewardly at Blitz, watching him screw his face up in a cute, awkward way, while Ani-Shadow stared in deep thought at the floor, seemingly reflecting on her actions many years ago.  
"Urgh." Ani-Raindrop sighed, before flopping to the floor in an annoyed manner, giving in on any and all of us. I blankly looked on as all fell still, silent, fairly tense and awkward - the only sounds we could hear being the faint breathing of the living ponies in the room. My hooves drummed against the wood of the stage, it creaking beneath us all, as I began to hum any random tune I could think of - my answer to avoid awkwardness (always). Quickly, I was shot an exasperated glance by Twinky, which, somehow, immediately hushed my movement, and I darted to sit up straight, perfectly still.  
"So…err...anyway?" Blitz tried to shatter the muted tongues of us all, and soon found every head had turned to regard him, "Are those friends of yours in the cupboard?"  
Ani-Twinky sat up in confusion, her ears flicking as if it would charge her brain to think, "What cupboard?"  
My hoof (involuntarily) brought itself straight to my face in shame for Blitz and his barn door for what he calls a mouth. The moon itself even hid its radiant face behind the darkening clouds.  
"Y'know? The one on the way to the showstage?" He still hadn't realised that he probably shouldn't have mentioned our encounter with bigger animatronics that, for some reason, didn't like the Ani-Ponies, maybe as it was just at least a bit suspicious? Honestly, I believe that stallion has hot air where there should be a brain…  
Meanwhile, it appeared that the cogs in Twinky's head were revolving, trying to think of anything that we would possibly know about. Suddenly, she stopped, frozen, and snarled to the air.  
"What did they say to you?" She commanded, venom filling her words. At that moment, it seemed to dawn on Blitz that he shouldn't have said anything about our encounter, and tried to resort to, well, being an idiot.  
"Who said what?"  
"Don't play games with me."  
"What game are we playing?" He grinned like a happy child, yet I could see perspiration rolling down his face. He looked at me for a glancing moment, where I proceeded to go along with his stupid idea.  
"I do hope it's something to do with cards! We love card games, don't we Blitz?" as I began to shuffle awkwardly. I felt like I was giving such a terrible, cheesy performance, when I really should've been acting like it was the last time I ever did - many a time I'd starred alongside Willow in her daily shows, and I were never quite as bad as this.  
"Stop hiding things…" Twinky pushed on, now standing up in a threat, "Because that then leads me to believe they have said something."  
I tried to resort to another tactic of mine - changing the subject. I peered around, looking for anything to talk about, when my eyes fell upon the warm glow of the moon above, scattering light onto the several strewn chairs. Splashes of paint dotted the walls in places, now beginning to fade with time.  
"Hey, you guys never did painting in here, as I remember?"  
"That's because we didn't."  
We all turned to face Ani-Shadow, wearing a solemn expression as she stared at all of us, each in turn, "It's linked with our friends."  
"So they aren't your friends, then?" Blitz asked, raising a hoof as if he needed permission. Admitting accidentally about our earlier conversation, he drew a stern scowl from Twinky as she returned back to her place.  
"Those two ponies in the cupboard are our predecessors, Evolution and Heavy Metal… animatronics based off of the extremely popular game, "Robot Unicorn Attack" and it's alternatives. They used to be the main attraction here." Ani-Shadow began to tell us, introducing to us some of the history of this unfortunate story.  
"Why aren't they still out here, with you guys?" I cautiously asked, being careful not to pry, yet still find out the answers I so desperately wanted. Twinky regarded Shadow with a stormy look, before nodding ever so slightly, granting her the free reign to tell us the tale.  
"They never really did anything wrong, I guess, but they were old. Less popular as what they used to be. The owners decided to swap their attractions for us guys, with you and your friends now being quite a big hit in the child world." She slowly spoke, as if deliberating every word. The last bit was indeed news to me - since when was fighting evil so highly respected? Shadow breathed in (although she didn't really need air), continuing once more, "Yet, they didn't want to get rid of them, just in case there were some kind of problem with us; if we didn't take off with the children, or we were faulty. It appeared that we were perfectly fine, and a huge draw of children, parents in tow, to our little play place, luckily for us. However, it was unfortunate for them-"  
"Why? Do you pity them, Shadow?" Twinky interrupted, still wearing a snarl in disapproval.  
Ani-Shadow shook her head steadily, "I never said anything like that - but yes, I do. You never needed to taunt them like you did. Anyway, they were locked away. For good. In that small, empty, dark room with no energy supplies and no company apart from each other."  
Blitz and I just watched her lips close, soaking in all the information like a pair of equine-shaped sponges. This place was here even longer than I originally thought - I knew that it had been here for longer than I'd been about, but who knows. It could've been around when my parents were born, too. We remained silent, waiting for the rest of the story to pour out of Shadow.  
"You, Twinky, had to go and disturb them. I'm not starting a fight, before you bark at me, but I'm just letting these ponies know what really went on here. There's no point lying anymore, is there? We don't have reputations to keep, nor any other company for an amount of years since the last mare we caught…" She looked at her leader in concern, and awaiting a reply.  
Twinky just looked at her, seeming to understand that the metallic tone in Ani-Shadow's voice wasn't one of a challenge, but merely just a calm, truthful one.  
She began again, after her break:  
"She went to see them - anger them a bit. Make them see what they were missing out on. Those ponies have much more emotion towards those foals than we could ever imagine, and neither did they have evil in any one of their gears. Twinky had a fight with Metal over this, and although neither pony came out well, Metal certainly sustained the more severe casualties. A detached ear and broken eye." Twinky gazed away, quite guilty as I could read, before Shadow started up again, "Either way, they were stuck in there, now in the knowledge that their favourite fillies were in the hooves of us: venomous, sly animatronics with too many programming faults to count."  
"Like mine." Ani-Raindrop sighed, studying the void in the back of Twinky's head, blackened like the darkest night sky, "I'm glitched. So are we all (except Shine). But not all of us can be controlled by it. But, if you can, we make terrible mistakes."  
"Hmph!" Willow exclaimed, prodding Ani-Raindrop in the shoulder, "You've changed your tune!" She was returned with a "gentle" shove, sending her toppling over onto the dusty wood as she returned to her speech.  
"Twinky and I… we fought over… something. A big something."  
All the Ani-Ponies watched her curiously, awaiting her next words. At that moment, it struck me that they never truly knew why they had ever fought in the first place.  
Seeing Ani-Raindrop freeze in guilt, silent, Twinky said the words for her, "It was over you, Shadow. After you… the incident. We fought over me, and what I didn't see inside of you, what I could've done to save that foal. We just… argued."  
"But I went out of control, and I fought you. Hard. And I did that to you, before anypony could stop me." Raindrop began to murmer, trailing off into nothingness, as she stood, slowly walking off of the stage as if she had been expelled from the confession circle. She paced around a few times, before throwing herself at the wall, "Why did I?" she lay down where she stood, her back resting against the wall. We all saw as she tucked her head into her hooves, lying motionless as she peered up sadly at us.  
"Go on then… continue your story time." She peered up at us like an expectant child. Her sudden change in nature - from an argumentative, challenging animatronic to a child-like, sad one unnerved me a little. She seemed to swing in attitude unpredictably, like the rapid swaying of a tree in a hurricane.

Ani-Shadow finally turned away from her fellow pony android, before looking on every one of us in turn, "We are all unpredictable. All of us. When we are in that mode, we're capable of doing anything - even killing." She moved her mouth side-to-side, as if she had something stuck in one of her jagged teeth, "See that mark on the floor, over there?" She gestured a wing to the stain we had seen earlier, soaking the floor in a tinge of faded red, "That was me. And, those bite marks on the wall?" She pointed out yet another battle scar this place had, "Me again. Always me."  
I watched her with increasing fascination as she stared deeply into each point - every dent, scratch, stain; all prints of the past. Her eyes shut as a drop of black liquid fell from them, then peering back with wells of oily sea, her usual purple pupils a dazzling white. I turned away, feeling intrusive on such a sensitive moment of a pony I barely knew.  
"Look at me."  
I forced myself to obey, swirling my head to face her.  
"What do you see?"  
"Darkness." I said aloud, involuntarily, yet it was true - I saw blackness literally on her: her eyes, paint… and in her heart, too.  
She smiled, almost as if she'd wanted me to say that, "This is me. The real me. The one which murders. The one with daggers in her kiss. The glitched me." Her head swayed on her neck, an ear flicking slightly as her head darted sideward in an instance, juddering steadily, "I've killed many like this - this is why. I hate it. I hate it with every thread of my lingering soul. Yet I love it; I want more."  
"Like a drug…" I finished off her sentence for the animatronic, glancing around both sides of me cautiously, as if something would leap from the shadows. My eyes fell upon Blitz for a moment, who was bending away from the robot pony with the needle smile laid next to him. Easily in target range.

A loud, shrieking bong filled the air with its song, replaced quickly with another, and another.  
Six times - had time really flown so fast? I peered up curiously at the window above us, and was greeted with the sight of the first early, golden streaks of morning mixing with the murky fog.  
"…It's - It's OK…" Twinky smiled faintly, pity tainting her lips, "You can leave now; its fine with us."  
I looked at Blitz, and he looked at me. We weren't exactly sure what would be the right thing to do - leave, and look insensitive, but stay, and look like we're prying. Deciding that perhaps departure would be the best idea (especially as Shadow began to bawl into her hooves), we slowly inched off of the stage, towards the exit of the Mane Hall. Then, Ani-Raindrop's voice called from the stage (she'd got back on there quick!), stopping us in our tracks.  
"But, repeat anything out of these walls…" she snarled a threat, dragging her hoof back in the dust, "And you'll have me to answer to. And I'll not let you leave until I've ripped you apart."  
I gave an extremely awkward grimace-turned-grin, nodded like a lunatic, and made a hasty escape, Blitz trailing after me. I've noticed, there's a very nasty habit of this place leaving us with haunting words to dwell on until the next night… I'm hoping that we keep the Ani-Ponies sweet until the end of the week.

Only I fear two strangers will jeopardise it all.


	5. The Things We Don't See

Chapter 4: The things that we don't see

The faint murmurs of whirring twirled into Evee's ears, rolling in like waves on a beach. She stirred, her peaceful slumber disturbed by the ever-approaching rumble of steel grinding steel, and gave out a silent yawn. She knew she couldn't be heard. Unless she wanted to tell them she was awake. Their words drifted softly as they came into her hearing range, leaking in through the keyhole.

Carefully, she stood to a crouch, slinking close to the ground as she tried to reach the door - hoping her ageing mechanisms wouldn't screech her presence. Grimacing as she gave a near-audible creak, she flattened her ear to the gnarled form of the door.

"…weren't too bad, you think?"

"Perhaps - I still don't trust them, though. See how her stallion tried to hide seeing them? I think they're playing with us."

"Now, Twinky, you can't just-"

"They can't find out our secrets - if they do, you _know_ we'll be in for! We already have enough of a struggle keeping those two down, hiding the murders, our motives, and _Sad Twinky_!"

Evee's rainbow mane flickered steadily as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Resuming back to their conversation, she leaned further into the door.

"Y'know, Twinky? Perhaps it's time we called it a day?"

" _Never!_ As soon as we give in - we're dead! And, if that's the case, what would've been the point in all these years of killing, just to defend our honour and secrets?"

"Exactly what I was wondering… Goodbye, Twinkleheart." The other voice sighed into a whisper, as her hoofsteps sounded again, back into the ominous distance once more. The other grumbled in an exasperated tone, before bumping against the wall in a clumsy sit. Evee's mouth bobbed open and closed, taking in what she had heard, and contemplating to make a move to say something. Those living ponies had gone to the Ani's anyway? Even after what she had said? And now they were befriending them? The Ani's had to be using them, and Evolution dreaded the thought of the same fate coming upon them as what came upon Spring Showers… She wouldn't let them this time - although the only idea that sprung to mind would put them back in just as much danger as before. At least Twinkleheart and Blitz would know where they stand. As she shaped her mouth into the start of a speech, Metal gave a small groan as he stirred, momentarily turning Evee's face into an image similar to that of a used dishcloth. She bobbed her head as if she were avoiding an overhead danger, before raising a hoof to the door, hesitant to knock against it.

"Evee…?" like a tiger's distant growl, he grumbled sleepily to her, almost as if he could sense her thoughts, "What are you going to… do?"

Seeming to ignore his question, she cleared her throat, straightened her neck, and knocked formally twice on the door.

"Huh?"

"Hello? Twinky."

An exasperated groan leaked through the keyhole, before an annoyed, "What do _you_ want?"

Metal's ears pricked up, before a sharp snarl split the stale air, "You."

"Oh, you called the cavalry, huh, Eva!" a mocking hum came from the other side, her grin easily flowing into her words.

"Stop flippin' calling me Eva!" That name was one of her pet hates - all who liked her knew she cursed that version of Evee with every breath she took. Of course, Twinky had learnt of it, someway, somehow. And she _loved_ using it.  
The pink unicorn snarled a reply, "Stop whining, whickerhorse!"

Evolution opened her mouth to bark something back, but found no insults that would hit as hard as "whickerhorse", and so, backing away from the door, gave it a hard knock with her hooves. The door screamed faintly, before silencing once more. To replace it, a waterfall of cackles filled the air.

" _I told them both about you!_ "

The laughing was shattered, and Evee could almost hear the scowl on Twinky's muzzle, "Don't fuck up my chances, Eva, or I'll fuck _you_ up." The sound of retreating trotting echoed through.

The rainbow-maned animatronic called after the fading hoof-fall, "And don't come back anytime soon, bad-mouther!" She stared at the door for a few moments, before scraping her hoof back in annoyance, sighing as she turned around to face a very unamused-looking Heavy Metal. He flipped his ear at her in disappointment.

She groaned heavily, exasperated, "What, Metal?"

"Did you have to do that? Put those ponies back in peril?" he almost murmured, his usual loud voice a mere whisper.

"Better than sitting by and doing _nothing._ "

"For this one time, perhaps it would've been better if you'd done exactly that."

The female had no reply for this simple answer, watching him as he curled back into a restful position.

"Remember, Evee, they don't know everything. And they probably never will, now. No one will." He let himself slowly roll away, his back facing his friend as he said, "This place is a death sentence. I hope you sleep well with that weight on your mind."

No words more left his lips after that, his cold words soon replaced with his shallow breathing, and the slightest whimper as the door creaked open, flooding the scarce flash of white light and teeth, stealing, but then spilling blackness across the floor.


	6. The Missing Pieces

The streetlights looming above our heads skittled patches of gold across the damp pathways, cold to the touch from the recent downpour. Some lazy droplets even patted on my head now, hours later, as I strolled down the bumpy cobbles, Blitz by my side.  
"You don't think…?" he began, watching me as my hooves outstretched over a particularly sodden patch of grass. One pegasus must have forgotten to turn the clouds off quicker.  
"Think what?"  
He sighed softly, "That they saw through it? Y'know, the lie about the "Ponies  
Beyond the Door"?"  
"Of course not!" I chuckled, his usual worrying trickling through his strong exterior, "They would've had us strung up by now, otherwise."  
He murmured a faint "yes" to himself as he brushed his legs through the moistened leaves of copper, the rain washing away their usually fiery colours to leave a bland, conker-coloured shell of its former self.  
"…Twinkly-toes?"  
I scoffed at the childhood nickname, his creativity never ceasing to amaze me. However, my rolling eyes soon stopped as I realised the seriousness in his voice.  
"I… well… I. Um, I like you…"  
"Of course - why else would you've stuck with me all these years after you first protected me from the bullies?"  
The bullies - every mare experiences it at some point, abuse hurled like mini grenades. But not every mare quite sees just as much as what I had. Usually, in months, it sorts itself out, doesn't it? C'mon, human, even you can say you've experienced it. Every universe does, someway, since our worlds are full of idiots at school. But, mine, unlike the usual story, didn't resolve itself. It never did, even after 7 years. 7 years. Even the simplest minds have a point where they get bored. But no, it appeared that my school bullies were pushing the boundary of dumbness - who would have guessed? Blitz stuck up for me after seeing me, year on year, still tolerating the same crap, but that just tangled him in my mess. That's why we moved to this little village, away from the bustle of our previous hometown, away from all the ponies that still hate us with a vengeance. I'm never going to set a hoof in the place again. Ever.

"Urrrrh, well… I kinda like you more than that. As in, like you."  
"Yeah right, Blitzy-blue. More as just to ruffle for a while!" I laughed inwardly, knowing his dirty mind so well, "Why would you be… "hoofing" that time otherwise, huh?"  
"You caught me then… but it didn't stop me! I persevere, Twinkle! Just like how we two would -"  
I put a forceful hoof to his muzzle, pushing his head back into his neck, "Please, keep your dirty ideas to yourself, Mister! I don't even wanna know what you think of us two doing."  
He groaned sadly, before saying, "You have a great imagination, though." It was followed by a rolling laugh down my ear.  
"Thanks for reminding me of that terrifying prospect. I'll have that thought in my traumatising memories forever, now!"  
"Heh, thinking about me, Twinks? You making up for all my dreams about you?" he chuckled, bumping me in the side with his own. I scrunched my face up, knowing any answer I came up with would have some kind of rude idea turned back on me. I tossed my head backwards, marching off across the path as if I were some kind of supermodel-gone-wrong, Blitz following me with a faster gait than my own.  
"Hurrhurrhurr, you're not going to admit you wanna do all that stuff, are ya?" he grinned as he walked backwards with a pace to match my own.  
"No, I'm not! It doesn't interest me!"  
"Ah, give in Twinkle, you know you want me to touch you for the first time!"  
"My sexual status should not be your concern." I pulled a pout of disapproval, annoyed with how he always seemed to know what I had and hadn't done.  
He whistled, trailing behind me a little as he eyed up my heart cutie-mark flexing in time to my walk, "But, that flank's mine, Twinks. Reserved from day one. So, it's all my concern."  
"Hmph!" I exclaimed, trying to march away quicker, but realising that only swung my hips more.  
"C'mon, you must like me, even a little? I've known you since school. You can't just not care about me. Admit it, Twinkle: you like me; you'd like me to have a bit of fun with you; and you know that you want me to own that flank." My nostrils puffed out a foggy white cloud into the frosty air, "Don't flare those gorgeous nostrils at me. You know it's tru-ue~"  
Rather than deciding to answer his questions about my desires (or lack of them), I dashed down the path, letting the leaves shower me in dozens of splatters of rain… or was it sweat? I couldn't decide, but I did anyway, hearing trotting hoofsteps and laughter slowly fading into the sound of trees rustling. So what if I liked him? Maybe I did want him to have my flank. But he'd have to earn it first. Prove he deserved to own it, have it, and do what he wanted with it. No stallion was having me so easily. Not even Blitz.

*****

I quickly reached Twinky's at my hasty speed, fumbling for a key I realised that, this one night of all nights, I left to Blitz. My face wrinkled as he eventually strode from under the cover of the trees as if he were some kind of stud, him bouncing along the road as he snickered.  
"You forgot in your rush, didn't you?" he laughed as he waved the rusting keys in front of me, drawing my scowl even further across my face, "So embarrassed about me, were you?"  
I grunted a yes, as I snatched the keys from his orange magic, replacing it with an envelope of blue sparkles. He stood awkwardly weighted on his left side as the keys jangled into the keyhole, making a clearly-audible clack as the door unlocked itself - the revolving doors gaping into life as I pulled the first set open. The first thing that brought my attention that something was wrong was how the play place remained plunged in darkness; the hazy, moth-racked lights always blinked on as the doors opened. But, nothing - dead.  
"Hey, Blitz?"  
He steadily walked to my side.  
"You see that?"  
Puppy-like, he cocked his head as he curiously peered all around him, "I see nothing…"  
"There." I gestured an exaggerated hoof to my point of interest - the banner. It was in a disgruntled heap on the floor, displaying an old scrawl of writing dragging its way across the showing parts of its face.  
"Is that it?" he sighed as he finally lay eyes on what I was showing him, "I thought it was more important than that."  
I shuffled towards it, cautiously grabbing one corner of it with a halo of magic, "But it's written in red."  
"Paint."  
"Blood."  
"Blood? I doubt that…"  
I sighed into the dusty cloth, letting it unravel mid-flight before I pinned it back into its place with a few crooked pins. At that (convenient) moment, the lights hazily buzzed into life, splashing the darkness with a dead-plant orange, revealing the hidden lettering. To my misfortune. It spelled out something I didn't really want to believe I saw after that night, starting to make me wonder whether that pony on the other side of the door was actually a traitor.  
It spelled out, scribbled across as if something mechanical had written it:

WE KNOW

"So…uh…I guess it was important?" Blitz shuddered, staring at the words, still damp as it spattered red on the floor, "You think it's the Anis?"  
"Ah-hum. I think it was down to that other pony."  
"What… her?"  
"Yes - I think we have a traitor on our hands."

*****

Precariously slithering through the maze of twisting corridors, Blitz and I kept head to tail to avoid being seen - twelve bongs had already echoed through the halls and we were no closer to the Office than we were five minutes ago. Sigh. We're going to be toast by the end of all this. I winced with each clack of my hooves, trying to make as little noise as possible as I finally saw something familiar to our usual, Office-bound route.  
"Hey, Blitz." I hissed a loud whisper, jerking a hoof to a familiar poster en route to our little residence, "We're going the right way!"  
"Sure?"  
I bobbed my head like it was bouncing on the end of some elastic, before slipping cautiously down the path, hugging closely to the wall. My head traced the corner uncomfortably, my jaw clicking on the other side as I winced, and my eyes peered down the hall. The faintest glow of a white (Office) light shimmered in the distance.  
I grinned happily, "Ah-ha, got it. But… the lights are on."  
"Already? We always put them on."  
"I know. Oh well, maybe they were left on from earlier."  
I should've hightailed it out of there that very second, but, instead, I banished suspicion to the wind, and I began to trot down the corridor with no heed to how loud my hooves clicked. Blitz caught up with me quickly as he bounded along the marble-cream tiles that lined every inch of the floor. The Office slowly came closer and closer to us, and for a moment, I felt as if something weird was going on. I had no idea why, but almost as if that light and the fan twirling around with a loudening hum had more of a significance than what it appeared. Either way, I foolishly shunned it. I should've ran out, away, never come back, but no; this place turned every doubt I had into little more than words floating on the wind. As I reached out to the door, the faintest, shallowest cackle echoed through my mind - I swore I had imagined it. After all, I'm renowned for imagining things. Despite it, I nervously approached the closed barrier. Another thing that puzzled me, still - they're always open when we come here. Unless someone had been in first, then -

Oh crap.

My hoof shook as I keyed in the passcode to deactivate the barrier from the outside, Blitz watching me with increasing concern.  
"Y'know when you've got the feeling something very bad is about to happen?" I started, making out to be braver than what I felt, "Yep. Got it."  
"Whaddya mean-?"  
The steel doors lifted up with a heavy sounding dunk, and opening up the Office. The monitor flicked wildly from each static picture to the next, crackling every half second to try and clear the ever-changing images. The fan whirred softly in a stark contrast to the last. I blinked twice, before peering around the room. No-one. Nothing. But nothing seemed right - everything was out of place, metaphorically. There was a different air in the room: chilling and sinister, like something, at any moment, would leap out of the shadows and attack us.  
"So…" Blitz mumbled quietly, feeling the same atmosphere, "Who do you think is in here?"  
He could read me like a book, that stallion.  
"I dunno. Who can mess with the electronics?" I fell silent as I tried to work out what was happening. It could be something, or someone new - I couldn't recall anyone changing how the technology behaved…  
Wait… Night 1? Was there…?

…

I think I've just realised who it is.  
"Blitz…? I-If I were you, I would seriously not turn around right now." My hooves froze to the floor in fear as I saw the ice-grey drill-bit of a household power tool slide to the temple of his lime, sweat-beaded head.  
She watched him quiver under her metallic hooves, stroking his shoulder mockingly as she cackled, "Got you now, pretty boy~"  
He made an audible swallow as her round of laughter subsided.  
"Now, I'm going to make you an offer, imposters. Now, you either stop trying to find our secrets, or you're both going to have a drill in your head. Your choice, dearies."  
"Um… we were never after any secrets!" I said, puzzled - what was we trying to find? What secrets? She, in reply, scowled, lifted the drill from Blitz's head, and pointed it within millimetres of my muzzle. It roared into life as she pressed a switch in, just to prove that she was indeed being serious.  
"Stop. I can destroy you. Do not lie to me, pony."  
"But I-!"  
She let it spin aggressively once more, drowning every attempt I made to speak. Blitz whimpered feebly as she tightened her grip around his throat, "Tell me what you want here."  
"Money." Blitz managed to utter on what little breath he could find.  
I nodded, "We just wanted a job, for Celestia's sake! We never wanted to be half-murdered by robot ponies!"  
"Well, you didn't get what you bargained for then, Twinkleheart? What a pity."  
I looked at her in confusion; I couldn't determine whether she was on our side or not, saying such a phrase.  
She shut her eyes briefly, before flashing them back at me as tiny pinpricks of red, "We're meant to fully murder you, dearie!"  
I hopped backwards, scanning around me hurriedly. The only way back out was past Ani-Crystal and through the opening we came in from. Deciding whether it was wise or not, my mouth decided to shout, "Blitz! Run!"  
His ears sprung with surprise, almost as if something inside of them had snapped, releasing his ears from their pinned-back position, and he blinked, before darting out of the door.  
"C'mon, Twinks!" he shouted nervously as Crystal stalked towards me, her mouth of steel teeth grinding backwards and forwards. She sang softly, a haunting, music-box type tune, slowly getting closer and closer, backing me further into the corner. I twisted my head frantically, before, narrowing my eyes in concentration, I darted across the room as if my tail was on fire, mounting the wall slightly as I bounced around my obstruction. Determination filled me - I couldn't be pinned. Not this time. Crystal launched at me, her hooves locking on target as if she was some type of missile, but ending up missing my last few tail hairs by… a hair. A clatter sounded from behind me as I knocked into the side of Blitz, and as I twisted round, I saw she had knocked of some of the yellowing paint from the wall. Agitated, she shook her head, staring at me with a fierce scowl.  
"Yeah heh heh, Twinkle! Mission Impossible, eat your heart out!" Blitz whooped, waving a hoof triumphantly.  
However, I wasn't so pleased - I witnessed Crystal, very slowly, rising to her feet, her ears twitching in rage and embarrassment, and I shushed his hollering "I wouldn't start reminiscing over your favourite films right now, Blitz. Wrong place. Wrong time."  
Ani-Crystal, now firmly stood, did nothing but just stand, as if she was a statue. All I could hear was her slight breath escaping from her mouth, before she spoke, anger shaking her words, "That was your worst mistake, ponies…" Her head then snapped up at us, her scarlet eyes spitting red light like a bonfire. She roared at us, her teeth moving backwards and forwards over the other row like a mechanical saw, hissing, "Now you're going to have a real bad time!"  
Blitz stared in terror as this mechanical-version of a friend of ours replicated her favoured tool, while I flattened my ears straight to my head. Seeing that he had no bother for moving, I shoved him out of the door, "C'mon! Run!"  
He finally appeared to recognise what I said, and, side by side, we clattered across the tiles, occasionally slipping as a familiar voice, who I could only describe as Twinky, sounded from the distance, "Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide!"  
"N-now her?" I called over our blurring hooves, "Can they seriously be any more against us?" My hooves stung as I swung around a corner like a poorly handled bicycle, and continued to pelt along the narrow stretches of corridor. Faintly, covered by shadows, I saw a figure leap from the ceiling down to the floor. I skidded to a halt, only to slide across the white floors into the waiting hooves of Ani-Shadow.  
"Yep, I think they can, Twinks!" she sneered, snapping my ears between her leg joints and clicking her tarnished hooves together. I whimpered, trying to struggle but getting nowhere. She watched my feeble attempts with amusement, "No way of getting out of this one."  
"Hey, did you forget that I was part of the equation?" Blitz's voice spoke up, him tapping a hoof as if he was annoyed to not be seen as as much of a threat as I. She chuckled softly, covering her fangs with her free hoof, as if she found his innocence an endless source of humour.  
"No, that's sorted, too."  
"What do you-?" The sound of whirring just above his head made him stiffen his ears in terror. Shaking very slightly, I could only spectate as he slowly picked his head up, dreading who he'd see before, with a clatter, another pegasus dropped upon him in a green flash. He, stunned, realised it was timid flutterer, Fireshine, and, almost light-heartedly, sighed, "Welp - that's one way to solve the problem."


	7. Renegades (ENDING 1)

Chapter 6 - Renegades

A hurr rumbled mockingly from the shadows, "Did you honestly think it would be _that_ easy to fool us?" Twinky head jerked from the darkness, her icy steel muzzle pointing close to my own, "Wrong, ponies!"

"When were we ever right, Twinky?" I sighed into my hair, some of it now flopping carelessly in my face. I inhaled, trying to blow it away, but it just kept hitting me in the eye with a vengeance. She scoffed at my feeble attempts to rid myself of the problem, staring between Shadow and I.

"Should we cut it off for you? Looks like you're due a trim…" she snickered, a grin spreading across her face as she came up with this idea.

I shook my head vigorously, "Nah ah! You're not touching my hair!"

"Tell us what you know, and we'll leave it be." Shadow snarled into the base of my ear. I shuddered from the strange feeling of stale air leaking through my fur, scrabbling against her to try to escape, to no avail.

"-What if we don't know anything?" Blitz enquired, sounding clearly struggling for breath with the amount of steel resting on his lungs

The Anis hesitated for a moment, pondering their decision. Twinky raised an inquisitive (or maybe impressed) eyebrow at Shadow as she smirked. After what seemed like an age before their scratchy voices sounded again, Shadow spoke up, "Fair enough." She released me from her harsh grip, dropping me like a sack of potatoes. Dazed, it took me a few seconds to stabilise myself. Meanwhile, Ani-Shine lifted herself from Blitz, him wheezing and coughing as he finally got air back to his lungs. For a moment or two, they watched us struggling, stumbling and gasping in front of them - no doubt, signs of weakness in their eyes. I heard a cold snicker echo from Twinky, and her hoof tapped the floor like a drumbeat, "We've decided to release you, my ponies. For sport, we will now pursue you. If we catch you, then you will tell us our information. Or die. Got it?" She spoke quickly, almost as if she wanted us to be confused. I blinked at her hazily, rubbing my eyes with a hoof. She continued, "You have a ten second head-start. Starting now."

I shuffled on the floor, still not processing what she said, "…Wait, what are we meant to be doing? R-running from you?" I mumbled, before whining, "I don't get it..."

She kept a stern face, "I'm counting, y'know. 4…5…"

Annoyed, I muttered and cursed to myself as I stumbled to my hooves, looking around me sleepily.

"8…9… You really don't care that you're about to die, huh?"

I blinked twice, confused. And, then, the word die seemed to impact on my brain, leaving a comet-sized crater in it. I swallowed a gulp of air, exclaiming, "Wait, die-?"

Too late, Twinkleheart.

With pleasured, sinister grins, the trio of Ani-Ponies exclaimed, "10!", leaping forward in unison, creating a unescapable barrier of metal. What little could I do in that moment? All I did was make the most mouse-like squeak which itself trembled away from my lips as though it wasn't sure of its existence.

Thankfully, a minty-coloured hoof heaved me out of the way as the robots leapt within centimetres.

"Come on!" he yelped down my ear, clearly struck through with pain from Fireshine holding him down earlier, "We don't have time to just sit there!"

Finally realising what this all was leading to, my legs, although shaking, now moved from their own accord, carrying me clumsily across the tiling. Agitated grumbles echoed from behind me, and I dared a look back. Twinky's scarlet eyes, furrowed in anger, bore straight into mine. Yet, they didn't appear to be chasing us, their forms slowly shrinking away - however, with what almost seemed like a silent command, she and her pack members slinked around the corner they were guarding.

"Blitz…" I huffed out of my lungs between ragged breaths, "They aren't chasing us. They're going a different direction!"

Finishing off my sentence, he spoke, determined, "They'll try to catch us using another route. They _do_ live here, Twinks." As a turning beckoned us from its place, Blitz swung round it as though he had wheels, dragging me by the tips of my hooves, "But they can't find us if we stop running and hide?"

To my surprise, a large, faded violet box stood around the wall, leant solemnly against the peeling paint. It was perfectly sized for two ponies such as Blitz and I - how had he even noticed it before?

"I saw it while we were looking for the Office. Thought it might come in handy." he smiled, answering my thoughts for me. His entire demeanour had changed - the usual Blitz that I knew, grew up with and loved had all but disappeared, now replaced with a stallion set on a mission… In a way, it scared me. If this was what he was like now, what would he be like if something bad happened to any of us…? I hoped never to find out. Either way, the cube was our home for the next few hours - at least we could keep each other company.

With every precaution, I slipped across the colour-drained tiles, careful not to knock any of the forlorn ribbons that drooped their tails on the ground. Everything looked so… dead (and, please, excuse the untimely pun), as if every ounce of life had been seeped from the walls. The purple of the empty gift box loomed in front of me, and the thought then came across my mind - perhaps it had been originally designed to fit ponies in it? It would make sense, this being a place of fun, surprises, and children. Something was, for once, conveniently working in our favour. Noiselessly, I lowered myself into the box, taking care not to tip it up with my often clumsy hooves. Honestly. Everything that I could knock over, run into, fall over, the list goes on, I would do; neither of my parents had that problem - it seemed only I was blessed with that _wondrous_ gift.

Blitz, now settling into the box as he pulled the lid of the present over, sighed, "Welp: that should be good."

I nodded, afraid that, perhaps, the Anis had watched us go there all along. Yet, however long I waited, no strike, no ambush came. I was thankful for that, but it only made me, in some ways, tenser. Nervously, I tapped my hoof lightly against the enclosed walls, when, for some strange reason (maybe he found it would comfort me), Blitz grabbed one of them to rest on his lap while he massaged the other end of the hoof with his own. Great - a hoof massage in a murderous place.

I scoffed at him as he busied himself with my back hooves, "My hooves are that interesting, huh? And, secondly, why exactly are you massaging them?" I was more baffled than what I usually was with this stallion; in all honesty, that was saying something.

"You kinda looked stressed, so I thought it'd calm you down a little." His words were casual, soft, as if nothing was going on. Again, his entire front had shifted - it made me curious as to what swung his moods, or, if anything, everything I'd seen tonight had been a spectacular show as to not worry me. Watching his preoccupied face, seemingly enjoying the proximity of us both and an opportunity to massage my hooves, I didn't have the heart to tell him that, as a matter of fact, nothing he was doing would make me feel in better. But, I couldn't crush his happiness - if he thought he was helping me, then I'd let him believe it.  
Everything remained silent for a moment, lost in time, when I asked the strangest question (and I never understood why I would bring it up), "Do… do you think that we're going to die tonight?"

He stared at me blankly, baffled, "If they don't find us, then no…" he sounded awfully doubtful, and his tone made me feel uneasy.

"But, we do have to _leave_ at some point."

"They'll turn off though, won't they?"

I shook my head, "I don't know - we've never seen them do so, even after six…"

He appeared to have no reply to this, and all he did was move his jaw side to side, as if he was chewing his very words before swallowing them down with an audible gulp. Again, all fell into an awkward hush. But, then, an out-of-tune bong rattled through the sides of the box; it was slightly muffled, but still clear enough to be heard.

One, eerie, single bong - one o' clock.

I stared at Blitz, and he froze still, his hoof-biting (yes, he was doing that) halting. Softly, the clang faded into the dusty air of the play place, leaving us two to expect something coming, or perhaps the lid of our box flying off and being greeted with three pairs (maybe more, who would know?) of ruby eyes. I felt my very bones rattle, singing an eerie tune of their own. Every breath, every gulp, sounded like a gunshot. I felt more conscious of my surroundings than ever, as if time had slowed down just enough for me to feel the world rather than just be in it - and then I thought, "Is this… death?". I had heard of stories where those that narrowly escaped death felt as if the world had slowed its turn for just a few moments… so maybe this was it. My eyes darted in their sockets, catching every tremor, every flicker of shadow. Silence. It was all wrong. My breath kept catching inside my lungs. No. This was it.

And then the whirring began.

It started off as a murmur, something that could barely be distinguishable amongst the humming of moths and faulty electrics. But, slowly, each and every one grew just a little stronger. Each echo became longer. Each step became more daunting. Soon, a faint rumble of thunder had made its way up the corridor and had seeped through our box, as if an army of hundred or more came to hunt us down. Surprisingly, we heard a somewhat sheepish knock coming from the top of the box - it didn't snarl a threat, nor did it beckon us to safety. It was somewhat sorrowful, if someone could even deduce that much from a knock at all… I carefully reached up a hoof to brush away the lid and reveal who our visitor was. My arm locked up as it was enveloped by an orange glow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I heard Blitz snarl in a whisper, trying his very best to disguise our presence.

I shook my head wildly, sending my hair into a frenzy, "They wouldn't knock, though…"

"What if it's a trap?"

" _That's_ not _them_."

"…Why are you so difficult?" he sighed eventually, releasing my hoof from his magic.

I scoffed a little at that remark. I think everyone knew that was part of who I was - stubborn as a mule. Without any further objections (although he winced back a little as I did), I reached up towards the roof of the box, carefully lifting the lid from the walls of the container. Hesitant, I brushed it aside, suddenly doubting my actions.

And, peering back as if she stared into my very soul, was Sad Twinky.

It was, admittedly, the first time I'd ever seen her in the flesh - no, ignore me. The… metal? I don't know; _whatever you can say you met animatronic ponies in_. There was something so sad within the bottomless holes where her eyes would be. They seemed… understanding. She knew what it was like, to be scared of them. She'd been here long enough, no doubt. Blitz stared into her soft features, the plait that we all knew so well tumbling across her neck and hanging like a fishing rod into the box. I peered up at her expectantly. She raised her head a little, allowing her voice to slip from between her stiffening jaws.

"T-they'll find you here…"

I shook my head, disbelieving, "And we should go somewhere else?" I whispered.

She gave a soft smile. It tugged at my heart - so sorrowful. It was as if she'd seen this happen before.

She breathed inwards (which didn't make sense to me), before sighing softly, "They are all but 15 seconds away… and they will come here…" her words fell into a deeper hush as the whirring returned. She whipped her head around to point her ears in the direction that it was coming from, "OK, 10 seconds. They'll find you here."

I stared at her helplessly as Blitz shifted to get ready to move. The whirring shifted as though they had just passed a wall - that nothing was blocking the sound besides the walls of the box.

From there, all descended into chaos.

The whirring fell silent. It was a stand-off. An unfair one, to say the least: one shell of a pony versus six monstrosities of mechanics. Then, I felt as if the very walls of the box were being burnt by a fiery gaze, every one filled with malice.

"Run."

A low growl ascended from the voice-box of one (which, I wasn't sure), before I heard a sweeping of hooves and our hiding place was tossed over. The Ani-pony, which turned out to be Raindrop, slid around the side of the container, primed to attack, but was greeted with nothing.

A spark of blue tumbled weakly onto her nose.

An agitated cry split through the air, melding with mine and Blitz's clattering hooves - it was a clever move, I felt. It bought us enough time to get away from them and further into the crevices of the building. With some hope, we'd stay hidden in this game of hide and seek for a long enough time to glide over to 6 am. With luck, that is.

Recklessly, my hooves crossed over one another around a corner, hastily trying to grip against the smooth floors; to my dismay, I tumbled over them (clumsy, clumsy me) and into the direction of a wall. I winced a little as I braced for an impact, skidding constantly as I tried to peddle backwards. With a thump, I bundled into the wall. However, I was surprised as I felt myself continue to move. I gave a cry as a grate attached to the wall gave way and I fell inwards. Blitz called out to me a couple of times, hastily moving towards the vent in an effort to see where I had ended up. It was, however, a wasted effort - it was a heavy gloom, scented with stale air and oil. The only thing I could see was a pair of worried eyes staring back at me through the blue gloom that spilled into the tunnel.

"It's… a vent." I spoke with intrigue, but I instantly lowered my voice to a whisper as echoes bounced all around me.

Blitz shook his head in annoyance, "Stay there, I'm coming in for you."

I leapt back towards the opening, peering up to him as he jumped, startled, "This is how Shadow must have got through to us! It must be a system that links all the areas together!"

I saw him recoil as my words fell through the slats (most likely sounding much louder than intended), before pressing his minty-coloured muzzle against the metal. His orange eyes threw sparks of colour into mine - I had never noticed before how very fire-like they were. They shone within his nervous features like ambers set in the handle of a sword. I think I finally understood what Crystal meant when she said that our eyes were the jewels of our souls. The very things that made us - every quality that made us an individual. We all had a defining trait, though. One that made us, us.

The fire within.

I tapped gently against the vent, beckoning him to join me in the gloom. Cautious, he glanced side to side, before pushing the shutter inwardly and clambering in. (Usually, you had to pull them open to access it - perhaps it was to do with Shadow's ability, I wondered. However, that did leave me thinking that the owner must have asked for them to be made like that… I shuddered away the thought before it worked itself any further into my head.) He shuffled his shoulders, probably surprised by the vent's closeness. I smiled to him. He always seemed surprised by obvious things, such as a narrow vent or ice being cold; I guess it was part of his personality, really. His loveable, dorky, sweet little personality I'd known since time began.

He sat, a little awkwardly, with his tail curved around his flank and looking as if he'd just been told that his mother was a chocolate dinosaur. I snorted, regarding his blank expression, before stifling an oncoming laugh.

"What?" he shrugged.

"You."

"What?"

"…Nothing." I scrunched my smile inside my cheek, appearing somewhat squirrel-like as they puffed out, "So, do you think we should walk this vent?"

"Eh… 'spose so."

I rolled my eyes at his lack of enthusiasm - why wouldn't he want to check out this ominous, gloomy, depressing vent with me? It was the perfect pastime, I thought. Perhaps not, in his opinion. I began to clumsily shuffle across the icy steel that floored the vent, feeling the rusting metal grate against my fur. Grimacing a little, I crawled a little more comfortably as I found an easier method, and soon the vent fell further into darkness.

The only light I had was that from the tangerine and sapphire glows in mine and Blitz's eyes - like candles, they flickered against the steel outsides that held us in. It felt as if we had entered the stomach of some great, cold beast, which held us unfriendly within it. Ugh. What a terrible thought. Every movement made echoed like a gunshot (it felt), and I was hoping that this beast's belly didn't stretch its inners too far into the design of the building…

"Do you have any idea-" Blitz started loudly, before I whirled round, hissing for him to be quiet, "where we are?" He whispered this last part sheepishly.

I shook my head softly, flicking my ears around my head like radars honing in on a signal. To be honest, that was _exactly_ what I was doing. I had heard a clang. I was sure of it. I could feel within my soul that our hiding place had been upturned.

And being chased through pitch-black vents was not something I was planning on doing.

Blitz's questioning expression followed every turn of my ears, bat-like in a way. Perhaps being best friends with a half bat-pony pegasi had had its effect on my behaviour.

"Twinks…?" he breathed, trying not to disturb my surveillance, but curiosity beating him with its hooves of stone.

I jolted a little, stunned as a mouse joined us within our (could you call it "ours"?) vent and scampered further into the cavern, "A-a clang. I swear I heard one." I wavered my hoof in the general direction of the corridor, "Out there."

"Well, do you think it's wise to stay in here?"

I pondered this fact for a moment; true, it might have been a smarter option to have left, but, never being a mare of rational thinking…

The little mouse ran up to my hoof, budged at it with all its weight against it, and then twitched its whiskers in a feat of courage. It seemed as if it wanted my attention. Regarding it intently, it flitted in a circle, sat up on its back legs, squeaked, and ran off further up the tunnel. It stared back at us with intrigue and determination in its twinkling eyes, wriggling its whiskers side to side in a peculiar manner.

I raised my neck, tried the best I could to get back up into a manoeuvrable pose (unlike the sack-like way I was lolling about right this moment), and pointed an order away into the gloom, "Follow that mouse!"

The small, fuzzy critter squeaked a war cry before bounding away into the vent, with my heavy, clumsy hooves pounding against the metal as I clawed my way through the blanket-like fog.

Blitz rolled his eyes, the obvious exasperation coating his voice, "You've gotta be kidding. We are not following a mouse! I'm especially not entrusting my life in its…" his words lingered in the air as the mouse ran back into sight, twitching and twiddling in a delicate way. Blitz held its gaze, and his features softened the slightest bit, "…tiny, sweet paws."

Turning, I smirked at him with an all-knowing "you-cannot-defeat-me" look in my eyes, and he let out a shaky groan, "Fine."

"You must trust more in the animal kingdom, dear chap!" I cheered, putting on the pretence of an ageing documentary host, waving a hoof in the air with a hint of regality and self-importance.

He snorted, swallowing laughter back down his throat, "You sound like a hippie gone wrong!"

"And exactly _how_ many hippies do you know, Blare Blitz?"

He let out a dragging 'uh', confirming my story in its entirety. I didn't think he knew any hippies, really. I guess Fireshine could be described as a pseudo-hippie, perhaps, in the right conditions… But. Well.

That isn't quite the important fact at this moment.

In that moment, the little tawny mouse let out a sharp squeak and leaped away into the darkness. It wasn't apparent why, but I pursued it at a pace that Blitz could just manage, and that kept the little creature within my sight. The very faint outline of its tail flashing within the murky gloom. Every once in a while, we passed an exit, allowing slats of bluish light to pour in to the vent. Those moments, I awaited eagerly, allowing me to be sure I wouldn't be turning into a nocturnal creature any time soon. The near-silent patter of the mouse's paws, sounding like soft rainfall on the top of an umbrella, and the shuffling we tried to mute as we followed, were the only noises that could be heard.

The steel groaned a little as I shifted along it - I could sense, now, that we were deeper into the heart of the systems in here, and no light was pouring into the corridor anymore. We'd been plunged into a cloak of darkness. Even with a unicorns' sharp vision, I was struggling to make out the creature that was guiding us. More times than one, it stopped, ran back into vision, and then began to make up its speed once more. Eventually, lost within this labyrinth of madness, we came across a junction.

We had two options: left - plunged into darkness; right - plunged into darkness. There was no difference. At all.  
"Uh, what do you think?" Blitz questioned, turning his head side to side with increasing curiosity.

"I have no idea."

"Great."

Even the little mouse seemed perplexed, hovering between the two channels as if deducing a decision itself. Stood upon its back legs, it was dwarfed by the endlessly gaping chasms at its flanks - its tail curved over on itself as the little mouse cocked its head, flickering its ears. It was as if it could… hear something.

With a squeal surprisingly loud for a creature of its size, the mouse doubled back on itself, dashing towards us in a flurry of fur and feet. It bundled itself past us in a panicked daze, quickly scampering away out of sight before I could even comprehend what was going on.

"What the-?" I began, puzzled out of my wits as to why the creature had so quickly changed. I shuffled myself forwards, my ears pointing upwards like arrows. Slowly nearing the junction, I jutted my head, craned my neck - just about did any kind of movement that would add an extra inch or two to my reach. I gave a sigh. Finally, I could actually see what I was meant to be looking at. Poking my muzzle around the corner of the right side, I likened myself to a periscope, eyes scanning the darkness as if I had my own x-ray vision: as a simple unicorn, I obviously couldn't see in that (if only I could), but, as far as I could tell, there was nothing of any interest, dangerous or not, in that direction at all. Merely black, gloomy air.

"You spotted anything?" Blitz questioned, forgetting the "whispering rule" and instead sending a wave of echoes throughout the tunnels. I grimaced, shook, and turned to him with an icy stare.

"No."

"Hmm. Odd."

I grumbled to myself. Perhaps Blitz hadn't been the best option to bring along to this hellhole, after all. I probably should have fetched one of the gang. Shadow would've been amazing at this - resourceful as one possibly could be, afraid of nothing (well, near enough nothing. I doubted that any clowns would be emerging any time soon.), and, with much better hearing and night-vision than either me or Blitz could muster, it would've been helpful to have her stashed in here at this moment.

Except. She might not have enjoyed being chased around by her alternate self. I don't think I really enjoy that, either, to be honest.

I threw a glance to the left, realising I hadn't yet analysed that area at all. Considering everything, I was sure there was nothing to see, but, I realised that Blitz's echo was seemingly cut off at a point within a few metres down that channel. While his voice was still throwing and tossing its mane around in the right side, the left had all but died abruptly.

So, with this revelation, I peered harder into the gloom, and, sure enough, the darkness seemed to be solidly matt, without any light at all shining away from it. In fact, it blocked every view of the rest of the vent. Strange.

Well, I was hoping that wasn't an Ani.

"Blitz." I began, sounding a little too leader-like for my own liking, "Stay there."

"Alrigh- wait, what are you-?"

I shuffled quickly across the front of him, into the intersection, and headed into the left corridor like a frightened snake.

"Twinkle! What the hell are you doing?" he cursed, sending more soundwaves into the chamber.

I sighed, turning back to him, "It's just a door."

"What's just a door?" he mocked my tone, squeaking a little at the beginning to emphasise his agitation. Oh, he didn't just do that.

" _That's_ just a door!" I thrust a hoof hard in gesture towards the rectangular, steel door that was blocking the left side. It must have stayed down from the other day, I pondered. It blocked Ani-Shadow, sure, but it also blocked us. Great. Nowhere to run. I was feeling a little like a mouse in a maze. Which reminds me…

"Blitz, can you see that mouse anywhere?" I asked, peering past the soft fur of his shoulders and back into the way we came.

He appeared to take a momentarily glance, before replying "Gone like the wind."

"Just perfect…"

I continued to peer side to side, curious as heck as to what on earth was happening. There was something between those two vents that scared the mouse so much, but nothing was suggesting as to what it was. Floating here wasn't going to aid my cause whatsoever.

Deciding to stray a little further into the right corridor - which could obviously prove to be a foolish decision later - I let my hooves steadily guide me into the oppressing darkness.

"Keep a watch, Blitz, and let me know if you spot anything positively "dodgy"." I waved my hooves at this as if I was air-quoting. It was a shame that ponies didn't have fingers… I actually heard about a pony, years ago, being somewhat obsessed with the idea of hands. Poor mare; she was a unicorn, too - she didn't even have wings to use in a similar way to hands!

Aah, old times.

The downy feathers that walked my shoulders rose a little with the increasingly damp atmosphere. A little further down the corridor, I could hear the faint buzz - almost like bees in late summer - of what sounded like equipment. Possibly heating equipment, probably water pipes - I couldn't be sure. Like the idiot that I was, I plastered my ear to the outer wall of the chamber, breathing shallowly as to not interfere with the sound. There was a water-like sound, dripping and surging with the need to bulge, a more intensified buzz, and, to some sort of surprise, I found that the base of my ear being heated as though a dragon was breathing soft air onto it. Without a doubt, that was a boiler room. Nothing else could describe the connection between the three. Keeping my ear positively glued to the steel exterior, I shuffled an inch at a time, moving place as though I were a doctor checking the passing of breath. I eased myself a little further each time, paying little attention to the gloom around me and instead focused entirely on the heartbeat of the mighty room. With a bump, I slipped a centimetre or so into a large crevice - a crater in the crust of the earth. I felt the divot give in a little further, and, finally peeling myself away from the walls, find myself peering at a small opening, with slits that let the outside world flood in. In this earthworm world, the light was positively blinding, forcing me to withdraw as I tried my damn best to accustom in such a short moment. The smell of hot air hit me like a wave. It was as I was feeling somewhat proud of my deductive skills that I heard Blitz stuttering wildly.

It was a frenzy, a panicked slur of something that he couldn't seem to get out quickly enough. This flurry of vowel sounds confused me - as it naturally would - so I called, "Blitz? You alright?"

He didn't answer; he just kept stumbling over a new frequency of sound.

"Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-"

He leapt at me at a speed I believed he was incapable of in his somewhat bundled position, grasping hold of my plait and tugging at me as if I was a rag doll. Making an awkward stumble over me, he leapt away into the darkness of the corridor, clanging and bumping all the way along with his clumsy hooves.

Panicked into a frenzy, I tried to swing my head in search of anything that would scare him so much. I saw and heard nothing, as the shallow heartbeat of the building ceased to make a sound.

Then, out from the gloom, I saw the faintest shimmer. It was white, like the soft tender glow of the sun in the morning sky. Then, it intensified in its place, bouncing and jittering with a cacophony of grating sounds. I shivered with concern, slowly beginning to puzzle out what it was. Blitz had frozen to his place in complete fear, peering round at the discord of noise with a head motion so slow as though not to disturb the very air around him.

Whatever the creature was, it slunk around the corner we had come from like a snake, taking soft, easy steps with its arching legs. The only suggestion I could see of it was the gleam of its demon's smile and the silhouette of its body, visible with the light thrown from the vent exit nearby. Something material flowed around it in swirls, bound around its hooves in twirls and bundles. It gave a hiss. A hiss that slowly increased in depth and volume as it edged closer to us. I could see it shift its head from side to side, scenting the air in order to seek us.

That told me immediately that this wasn't Shadow we were facing.

It had to be someone who couldn't see us in this light.

Something that only an Earth Pony would struggle with.

I could hear Blitz whimpering softly, the twists of my hair still within his teeth tensing and slacking within his jaws. He was contemplating making a break for it, I knew.

Through gritted teeth, and with a hiss similar to that of our company, "Whatever you do. Don't. Move."

His sound ceased, and I knew my message had been understood. Everything went completely still around us - the boiler room ceased to whisper, Blitz and I dare not pass breath, and the enemy approaching did so with slow, careful movements, like that of a cat. Its features were becoming clearer as it inched closer, the tips of its ears and the dulled gleam of its eyes steadily moving towards me. It took everything not to cry out in horror. Stilling my quaking muscles, I felt even the breath of this creature upon my face now, warm and humid with anticipation.

My eyes widened, my pupils dilated. Heart racing within my chest, I willed it to calm - I feared that it could be heard within this silence. The devil herself took another step forward (and no more could be taken, so close was her and I) and, to my surprise, halted.

Nothing happened in those agonising moments. The air hushed. I held my breath with every fibre of my being. I could see her jawline (of a her I was certain), clenched with focus, as she peered along the vent. The sound of her mechanics suddenly became animated, whirring as I saw her pupils change dimension and direction. At one moment, I swore she had seen me, her eye lights falling upon my form for some heavy seconds, before moving away again to further scan the darkness. This process lasted what seemed like an eternity, before her eyes fell back into the gloom. For some reason I couldn't understand, I saw her smile chillingly in the direction she was facing - I couldn't help but feel a strike of dread deep within my heart.

The form breathed out with a spray of mist.

And inhaled.

I winced back, withdrawing as unnoticeably as physically possible. But, with a movement no one could predict, she dropped her muzzle straight down to my level, pressed its steely tip against my own, and startled. Blitz quaked, knowing that our cover had been broken. There was no reason to stay put. But, still, I wished he would just remain where he was and wait it out.

With an angry whirr, she withdrew, peered directly into my eyes with an intense fire, and shrieked with a split of sound.

Blitz dropped my hair in a startle, and dashed along the vent as quickly as what I thought possible, me quick on his trail. The channel of this narrow vent began to spill out into a chasm, large enough for us to stand upright and gallop hastily along the corridors. Every second or so, I'd spin my head on its pivot to stare back into darkness - I could see nothing, but hear the distant rumble of hoof-fall, almost as though it was the rumour of some forgotten conflict. Momentarily, the scent of hot air rose and fell around us; a second vent opening hanging on by a nail. I tried to absorb this as quickly as it fleeted by - had I been leading, I would've dragged both Blitz and I across through it, regardless of what was through on the other side. If we had enough room to run efficiently - other ways out rather than this labyrinth of venting systems - at least we could possibly make an escape.

Alas, my dim-witted friend continue to wheel along without a second regard as to what was hitting him in the muzzle. With desperate eyes, I pleaded with myself for him to turn and at least _look_ at it, but, knowing only I had seen it, I hung close by, whirling my head round behind me and trying to pierce the gloom.

Clattering, I saw our pursuer, heavy and stocky, charging around the bend in the vent and heading towards us, her eyes alight with scarlet and heaving out long jets of steam from her nostrils. A scarf, the material I had seen earlier, was whirling around viciously and whipping the air she left in her wake. Inhaling sharply, I cried to Blitz, "Rain!"

I was _so_ hoping that this was not happening - not the huge, unstoppable force that was Raindrop. Her farm work, and her part-horse genetics, made her the last pony I'd want to cross in the real world. But, trapped in a place like this, caged in and helpless, with a giant steel pony galloping towards us with no hesitation as to what damage it might cause to anyone, could be called my _worse nightmare_.

Flinching, he skidded a metre or so, staring back at me, and then the animatronic, with pure fear frozen in his eyes. I saw him sweep a gulp of air into his lungs, punching a hoof down violently into the steel floor in order to catch the attention of the robot. She slid to a halt, within a hoof's length of me, and appeared to take no notice of the clang my companion had made. However, once more, she stared straight past me as if I was a ghost, merely spectator to all of this.

Which then made me question if Blitz and I were already dead.

Although, I doubted that no nightmare, no hell, could conjure up something as weird and wonderful as this pretty little torture.

An ear-splitting clatter drew my attention back to the vent, cold and isolated. I twirled around on a pivot and witnessed a blur of steel leap from behind Blitz, angular and pointed with a venomous hiss. I cried out in desperation, believing I was too late. No reply. Not even a whisper of metal whirring, a cry of pain. Silence. I awaited any response, staring transfixed ahead into the path through this - I saw nothing from the cavernous channels beyond, without light to even illuminate the fate I knew he had met.

The floor behind me a trembled a little with a heavy hoof, steady and deliberating. I wished not to even turn around - I suddenly felt myself welcome of this demise, a fate I would share with my best friend.

If he had fallen, so would I.

Ani-Raindrop's weighted steps slowly sweeped their way towards me; if those plodding steps were made because she was expecting something further, or if she was waiting for me to look into her eyes and tell her _not_ to kill me, I was not sure. But, in my belief, Raindrop would be waiting for a fair fight - to take me down as I struggled against my death.

I would not struggle. I prayed for her, if anything, to make it hasty as I persisted at staring off into the distance, hoping for any sign of him.

I no longer cared whoever took me, or even if I were taken. I just wanted to hear a breath that wasn't mine. But it had been too long for him to return if he still was alive. And, the stillness, the lack of company I felt, not even the drawing of shallow breath audible in this deafening silence, told me the worst.

I could not even bare to admit it. I felt my heart, my very soul, shatter inside of me, peering away into that agonising truth.

All these years I believed I was just his friend, that his pursuits to have me to himself were in vain. However, I suddenly realised that the breath caught in my lungs, the hitch in my throat that prevented me from crying, weren't out of mere friendship.  
I believed, in that moment, that was the first instance I had ever felt real love.

"You're Twinkleheart." The steel voice spoke softly from behind me, the deep undertones of a voice capable of far louder speech flecked within it, "You fight against those who do you wrong."

Her words trickled over my head like nothing but rain on a warm summer's day.

"Have I been told wrongly? Or do you not see an enemy in this?"

I gazed away into the distance, attention caught by an isolated tear rolling down my face, "…I see monsters… I see ghosts…"

I felt the confusion on her metal face, doing its best to replicate puzzlement with the barely-moveable parts that showed her expression.

My voice was barely a whisper, still muted by agony, "…and I see ponies who no longer understand what they are, and who they've become."

My hoof trembled as I raised it, turning it over to stare into its golden surface, shining back a reflection I did not recognise, frozen cold in despair and weakness, "And I believe I am in the same state as you. So, just get it over with."

I patiently awaited her bite, or her leap, crushing me into dust. But, as the silence stretched out, the echoes disappearing, nothing came. From within the grief, I felt anger and frustration well up inside of me (I couldn't place where it had come from, but it was a place I had forgotten many years ago), and I tilted my head to see her. She was just… staring at me. As if I were frozen in time, a sight to see in one of the many places of Equestria. My glare penetrated her eyes, and she glanced away in submission.

"Come on!" I growled, bowing my head closer to the ground, exposing any vulnerable position I could, "Just do it!" The burning tears were now streaming down my face, piercing my heart with a thousand needles, "It's killing me!"

I started at my own sick, twisted pun, and found my company mirroring a flinch in response. She stared at me, eyes as wide as they could in some form of shock, but, still, she was obviously reluctant to do anything. And, to my own surprise, I laughed. It was choking, heavy, as I looked away back into the darkness.

* (Ending 1 - Bad Ending) "I always thought you could do any job, Rain…" I sighed, rolling my shoulders in isolation to the rest of my body, "but not this one, eh?"

I heard her blow out a sorrowful jet of stream from her mechanics, remaining silent otherwise.

"Perhaps Shadow, instead, then? We know you're the merciless one out of us." I snorted, calling out a little louder into the gloom. I knew it was her. In the flash of steel and jagged blurs, I saw the diamond-slotted eyes, the flare of faux fire sailing upon her head, I had clearly seen exactly who had brought Blitz down. In my opinion, the class-murderer just _had_ to lay claim to both of us.

From the direction I was facing, I saw the faint silhouette of the pegasus emerge from the gloom, the black shadow that gave her her name only highlighted by the open vent, now a distance away behind us. However, her eyes, glowing scarlet like the blood she had thrown from so many, were clear from her body, seemingly emotionless and cold. However, as she spoke, the faintest hint of sadness, pity, even, escaped and flowed into her words.

"It's the truth." She stepped a little more forward into the light, it bouncing from her metallic coat in both harsh sun rays and soft moonlight. I heard Rain move her head a little, staring away into the walls, lost in thought, no doubt in my mind.

"Why?" I questioned, my voice pitching higher at the end as I forced myself to look at her, "What's the point in any of this?"

She snorted, then shook her head in the best way she could to show that she, like I, had no idea. Her wings, folded neatly behind her, drooped a little in guilt. Red light was thrown around the room as she stared to the floor, colouring the ground with a criss-cross design of scarlet. I continued to regard her actions, and almost laughed at how life-like she was to the real thing. It made me question how on Earth the designers had been able to program these ponies to such a degree that even _I_ could have been fooled.

"To be honest, I'm not sure." She sighed, after what seemed to be an age of silence, hanging on by a tender thread.

I scoffed, feeling the sarcasm surface like bile in the back of my throat, " _You don't know?_ Wow. I've heard a lot of crap over my time, but, really?" I was shaking in part-frustration, part-hilarity, before I noticed that the robot was indeed telling the truth, "What has she got over you guys?"

"Something, obviously." Raindrop grunted, chipping into the confrontation, "She is head of the gang, after all."

" _I'm_ the head of the _real gang_." I dragged my words out heavily in order to exaggerate my irritation, "and I hold nothing over my friends."

"It's different, here. So, so different to the outside. So much so, we've forgotten what that was." Shadow complacently tapped a hoof on the floor, creating the tiniest clangs I could imagine from them.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I allowed the conversation to end there, letting her words continue to flow around the corridors. It was an ocean in which I was drowning. Either from my own tears, or the sounds flowing through my throat, I was drowning; I could do nothing to stop it.

"A-and Blitz?" I began again after some moments, forcing the words to form through the pain it caused, "What did he do?"

The blank looks and meaningless gestures were far more excruciating than any excuse they could have made.

I once again shook my head, this time out of disgust, "…Twinky, I bet, hey?"

"We have no cho-"

"Twinky would be proud." I mocked, tilting my head with every word.

Scorned, I prickled in anger, wishing that, in that moment, I had the very power to order them to attack me. How I envied my steely counterpart, one with so much control as to what happened at any moment. A snap of her tongue and the dogs would come running. Such a shame that they would not listen to me in that same way.

Even the fur around my neck raised, something that was an extremely rare occurrence for me, before it was accompanied by fresh tears falling away from my sapphire eyes, "I-I don't know - why you took _him_. You want _me_ , but you took _him_!" I was tossing my head by this point, no longer struggling to shout through the huge wedge in my neck, "You can fucking have me! Come on! Come at me!"

I was screaming at this point - I no longer cared whoever heard me, or responded to my cries. Only that my wishes were heeded, " _Come o-o-on!_ " I broke down into tears, uncontrollably roaring through my ripped lungs and straining to see through my blurred eyes. I felt nothing come, and I felt further frustrated the longer they waited. It was inevitable. If they let me get away (which I would refuse to try), Twinky would have them hurt. They had to, regardless of their doubts.

I thought I was making it easier for them - they wanted me to struggle. So I was. I was struggling to make them kill me.

"P-please…" I stammered, my head bent downwards in my now crumpled position, tears dripping down my face like rain in April.

They looked at me, and looked at one another. Rain looked quizzically as Shadow moved away from her stare, and peered back the way she came. The way that my friend had met his fate. I raised my head, then staring after her, before I decided that I needed to see him before anything was done.

As I rose from my broken bundle, an iron hoof was set in front of me, blocking my path. Blurry eyed, I peered up into Ani-Shadow's dark features, blank and direct, and my eyes must have pleaded why, for she answered, "You… you don't want to see him like he is."

I shivered once more, shaking my head against my own will, "N-no. No. No, no. What did you do to him?" I found a snarl rising in the back of my throat, " _What did you do to him?_ "

"…It doesn't matter." She shied away from my knife-like glare, "Not like it matters anymore." She gulped a little (despite having no actual need to - perhaps it was a comedic use of mechanics?), before starting once more, "He's gone, Twinkle. He's gone, and I can't bring him back."

"If only there were resets…" I muttered under my breath, and, to my surprise, I saw Shadow perk up a little, her ears standing on end and a shallow smile breaking out upon her lips.

"Haha, if only I was Chara, eh?"

I glanced up at her with bemusement, "They programmed that, too?" I shook my head, a broken smile emerging on my face, "It's amazing what these guys programmed into you…" My cold look returned, peering back up to her with a replaced tone, "It's a shame they didn't program empathy in those icy souls of yours."

She snuffled, rattling her neck with a toss of fire left in her wake. Then, staring down at me, I saw her eyebrows tip the other way, rotating to show the best expression of sadness she possibly could muster. The face reminded me of a small, guilty puppy, and, had I not been in this devastating situation, I would have laughed. The face, scary as it seemed, reminded me of the way… Blitz looked guilty…

And the tears returned again.

"I-" Shadow began, hesitant, as though deliberating something greatly against her systems. Then, steadily, she placed a hoof against my back, grazing it softly across my flocked shoulders, in an act of compassion, "We do have empathy. We, we just…" she fell silent and still like the darkness around us.

"We just can't express it, is all…" Raindrop broke in, completing the line that her friend could not. She paced up to the side of me, peering into my eyes with a dullened version of her own. It pained me to keep looking, knowing that they were my enemy, knowing what they had done to Blitz, yet I continued to look back in despair.

"Then, do so now. Help me."

My whisper, vulnerable and weak, appeared to strike a chord within the stoic Rain. Her outward expression shattered, and her pupils shrunk back as though they were stars in the night sky. I heard her give a weak gasp out, shaking a little as though trying to throw something from herself. She stepped back two paces in a haste, burying herself against the vent wall. She continued to stare at me, her eyes wide with some sort of terror. She stared at me, my expression somewhere between shock and confusion and despair and frustration all thrown together; Shadow, meanwhile, stared at her in some sort of pity, or sadness, even. Something was in that, I was sure.

Her pointless breathing shaky, Rain raised a hoof upwards, flinching away from some invisible bombardment, and hesitantly pointed at me, "D-did you- h-hear that-…?" She seemed so panicked, so scared my presence now, I feared as to what I had done so wrongly, "P-please, no. Stars, no. Like…l-like…"

"I know." Shadow began, staring back off into the distance as though she wished something had gone differently, "I know…"

"I know-" I spoke, this time, in a completely different context this time, curving the words deliberately over my tongue, "That Shadow hasn't been the lone killer… has she?"

Raindrop just continued staring at me, similar so much to a frightened hare. Her nostrils wavered.

"And, I get it." I began, trying to look at little less annoyed with the entirety of the situation, "You… you couldn't do anything else… for if you hadn't… she… a-and the ponies behind the door would still be…" Every sentence I formed trailed away into some sort of silence, like a word fill where the missing gaps had to be pencilled in.

"You don't. You really don't." Shadow sighed, looking away once more, as though it was a secret agony to keep pouring over the two pitiful ponies in front of her.

"And _you_ don't get what damage you do otherwise."

That had come out far more bitterly than I had predicted, flinching at my own words while my company shuddered uncomfortably. Shadow peered over me, my now pleading eyes begging her to complete her duty, to take me now rather than leaving me in this agony. She kept staring at me, before relenting with a heavy sigh.

"You…you really want me to…to… do this, hey?" she almost laughed out the words, somewhat taken aback with the ludicrous idea that this unicorn, renown for her sturdy determination, had given in so easily.

I heaved out hiccupping cries in relief, feeling so pleased that I had finally been heeded. My voice, along with its cracking, sounded so desperate. Desperation flowed from me, my stance, my eyes, everything cried out a beg for mercy. She glanced over my weak form, shaking with need, and she shook her head in some kind of conflicting disbelief.

"Had this been in any other case… had I been in my… zone…" she sighed to herself, almost smiling in utter astonishment, "I would've been so proud to do this. End you. But, now…-"

* I grumbled a little, feeling my body slowly giving into everything around me - it swaying with some sombre, distant beat of steel, "I don't care if you don't want to. But, if you care about others, and you say you do, show me." I shook away any other cold remarks about bragging to Twinky's smug face afterwards. Being so sarcastic would get me nowhere anytime soon.

"And, in all honesty, I owe it to you, don't I?"

I remained silent to that, but peering away in the direction Blitz had fallen gave away enough to say she did.

"…Fine. But-" she started, and I began to worry that have a condition would make all of this more unbearable - some kind of ridiculous challenge that would force me to exist far longer than I wished. However, her next breath surprised me, "I want to hear the real Twinkleheart of Equestria sing."

My confused and stunned face must have shone brightly from the gloom, for, whatever it was, made the larger robot snort a laugh back. She tossed her tangling mane back from her face, "I'm not exactly asking for a load, Twinkle. I just heard you were good at it." Her face drew up scornfully, her eyebrows tilted in a pseudo-scowl, "And listening to the same tinny tunes from Twinky only is tolerable for so long."

I was shocked, my eyes gaping wide as I scanned her now more-present features, "I-is that it?"

Stammering, Rain said, "I-I've always been curious as to what the _real_ Twinkle sounded like…"

"And you'll get to hear it, because you really should help me, too." A tinge of pushiness lined the pegasus' words, causing Raindrop to startle in realisation.

"I-I ain't."

"You deserve some of the credit, Rain. After all, you helped me track her." Shadow bobbed her head from side to side, allowing her hair to waver like real flames, soft and flowing on a winter's night, "And, hell, she struggled to be taken down so much, that two of Twinky's best warriors could only get her together." Shadow winked at me, seemingly optimistic despite the grave task I had set her. Perhaps her outlook was a forced output - after all, it appeared that our real, depression-struck Shadow did the exact same thing. Perhaps, after killing so many, you had to stay on the lighter side just to keep sane. Or, perhaps, she had desensitized to the horrors of spilling blood.

Ani-Rain's reluctance was as clear as the water she worked with, but her sigh showed her relenting attitude. She dragged a hoof across the floor as she moved back closer to us. Her eyes looked over a hardly recognisable face, pausing for a moment to see if any sign of regret was evident in my paling sapphire eyes. To my fortune, and her lack of it, there was none.

"Where?" She spoke clinically now, as though her objective was to paint a wall, or something of the like. She straightened her neck out, holding it above her increasingly drooping shoulders, almost as if it was necessary; if not, she'd fall to the floor like a stone.

"I-what? Where?"

"Where?" she spoke a little more forcefully now, as if her query was something obvious to the average equine like me. I blinked a couple of times, before finally realising her question with a long-drawn oh.

"I-I don't mind. Just, quick?" I murmured, giving a cheesy, forced smile afterwards, as if I was an idiot awaiting the speeding train while stood on the railway.

She blew out some air from her nose, taking a pace back again, "Fair enough, 'spose…"

Shadow shook her head in bemusement, appearing to chuckle silently to herself, before re-raising her hoof and placing it against my stomach, "Hey, how about you sing, and we'll sort out the best way to do it as you do? I solemnly swear that we won't mess you about. Promise." She placed a hoof against her none-existent heart and fluttered her wings in salute. Of course. Pegasi code, right?

"I…" I had no clue as to what I should spin from my mouth to its tune. My final song had to be part of me, and Blitz, too, I knew, and had to be something I had always loved. I wasn't leaving this Earth without a decent way to sing it goodbye.

And then it came to me. Of course, that song Blitz and I had sung so often as children; one of the first songs we ever encountered while we were friends, the relationship it reflected between us was undeniably true to it. As we were galloping around the countless fields of my hometown, we would loudly (and untunefully) shout it into the breeze in hopes of some higher power hearing it and granting us better singing voices. The wraiths swam around my head, of times past and forgotten, but still his smile danced warmly. Sweet memories of many, many years flowed by like an endless river, a whisper circling around in round after round.

My mind was lost to all around me, and my mouth began to sew the words:

 _When the sky is blue,_

 _And there's snow on the ground,_

 _The best place to be,_

 _Is ho-ome._

I momentarily caught Rain wavering in my tune, and Shadow turning away from my song to catch her eye and nod. She, however impossibly saddened her expression looked, she knew she had been granted this right, and she understood that she had to undertake it. Steadily, she and Rain lifted me from my feet, in some kind of burial procession. For a moment, I wondered what they were actually doing. However, as I was replaced on the floor, I saw the shadowed outline of a familiar friend. I gasped a little, my voice cracking, as his tangerine eyes peered into mine without a single suggestion that he was no longer alive. Not even a mark tainted his face. Nothing was different. It was just like waking up to his smiling face all those years ago, after that one time he had a nightmare… everything felt like an nothing but an instant had passed.

 _Look into my eyes,_

I shivered at that line - the irony of such timing. His eyes kept holding mine, bright and orange, just without the usual fire that burned so brightly within them. They were somewhat extinguished, covered by the occasional strand of wily hair. But, on his muzzle, he, strangely, wore a smile. Perhaps he was just happy to see me by him. That was what he had always wanted, after all - to lay beside me. I…he would never get to, now. If anypony would have me, it would've been him. In some way, he already had a huge part of me, and I never even realised until now.

Now everything was too late.

 _And see a paradise,_

 _That's where we'll go,_

 _A Heaven of our own._

Heaven. Had he gone there? Did it even exist? I had no idea what we were heading to, but, if he was with me, I would be happy. We could be happy together, never separated by any meaningless mission or stupid excuse or my ignorance ever again.

 _When I first saw you,_

 _There was a spark,_

The Anis worked gently and carefully. First, a hoof rest upon my head, firm, but not uncomfortable. Then, they placed a second hoof, and then a third, along my back, securing me. I felt one hoof be raised behind me, and another tucked in against my body. The faint glimmer of Shadow's eye moved into view, and she gave me a weak beam of fangs. A pity smile. Always a pity smile.

 _That lit something up,_

 _Within my heart._

Like the fire Blitz burnt like a candle, a memory of his soul, within his heart, and within his now muted eyes. He'd sparked something that very first day he came up to those bullies and told them to leave me alone. He knew what he was getting into. But he braved it, for some stupid reason. He charged into the fire headlong, knowing exactly he would be burnt. Just like this time. This tragic time we had failed like all others. He still blindly went into the flames because I refused to leave the embers alone.

 _When the sky is blue,_

The faded blue leg of Rain moved by my eyes, sturdy and heavy looking, without significant damage but only the occasional scuff, stood by my head. A single glimpse of her scarf fluttered past my fluttering eyes, teared and frayed so slightly, and my eyes teared up, but no longer streaming.

 _And there's snow on the ground,_

 _The best place to be,_

The final line came out as a breathy whisper, barely audible, as I finally gave in completely. I allowed my breath to shallow as the hooves along my body applied some more pressure. I winced a little, the increasing pressure sending frequent jolts along my spine. It was if I had become one of them, electricity surging along my spine in order to keep my powered.

 _Is home, safe and…_

I saw two pairs of ruby eye light, some sort of comfort now - as though they were fallen angels helping the dead to rise. I gave a broken smile, thanking them more than any words could say. All I could see was black, and, from it, the glow of two garnet eyes, a shine from two scarlet, slitted-pupil eyes, and, finally, my eyes came to rest upon the amber-orange glimmer from Blitz's, the music I could almost hear him singing alongside me.

 _sound._

I breathed the final word, and found that my two angels sung the final note alongside me in an impossibly melodic static. They glanced across to one another, and, then, with movements as hasty as lightening, my back froze, my shoulders gave, I softly sighed, and then two hooves took hold of my head and ever so painlessly twisted it over, out of place.

The weighty pressure finally gave, a static choke rang like an echo around me, and everything faded to white.


End file.
